UEFA Nations League A Group 1
Scotland v Croatia
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Friday, 15 November 2024, kick-off 7.45pm

Scotland will look to end their inaugural UEFA Nations League Group A campaign on a high when they host Croatia at Hampden on Friday night.

After earning their first point of the campaign with a hard-fought performance against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal at Hampden in their last match, Steve Clarke’s side will now look to build on the result and performance when they welcome the 2018 World Cup finalists to Hampden.

After narrowly losing their three opening matches in the campaign by a solitary goal on each occasion, Scotland will look to convert their positive performances into points as they target a strong finish to 2024 before turning their thoughts to their World Cup qualifying campaign next year.

Previous Meetings

Following last month’s meeting in Zagreb between the two nations – in which VAR overturned a Che Adams goal on the stroke of full-time that would have earned Scotland a deserved point – the record is now delicately poised with two wins apiece and three draws since they first met in 2000.

The sides last met in Scotland in 2021 when Hampden Park acted as a host stadium during the COVID-delayed UEFA EURO 2020.

With Scotland needing a win to progress from the group stage that day, a Luka Modric-inspired Croatia proved too strong for the home side, ultimately triumphing 3-1 after Callum McGregor had scored a second-half equaliser for Scotland.

Team News

Steve Clarke welcomes a number of stalwarts back to his squad for these fixtures, including vice-captain John McGinn, who missed the October fixtures due to injury.

Centre halves Jack Hendry and Scott McKenna also return following a period of absence due to injury, while Stuart Armstrong has now been added to the squad having established himself at his new club Vancouver Whitecaps.

A number of players have stepped up to the senior side from the Scotland Under-21s squad during the Nations League campaign, with goalkeeper Cieran Slicker earning his first call-up to join Connor Barron, Ben Doak and Tommy Conway.

Che Adams and Lewis Morgan have both withdrawn from the squad due to injury.

Pre-Match Thoughts

After watching the performances so far in the campaign, Scotland Assistant Coach John Carver is optimistic ahead of these final matches: "We have two games to go and it's still all to play for, which is a good thing. I think we can be encouraged by the performances.

"We should be sitting here with more points, so there's a confidence in the group. If results go our way and, for example, we win both games, we might have a chance of finishing second."

"I think we are closing the gap on these teams and the results have been quite tight and showed that, but now we need to go that step further.

"It is all well and good getting good performances and getting a draw with Portugal, but it's time for a win.

“Normally about this time of year, our form has been good in the past and the important thing is we get something out of the first game and see where it takes us."

"With Jack Hendry back, with John McGinn back and Stuart Armstrong back, it just shows how competitive the squad is when you think of how well, I thought, we did in the last two camps.

"We had a lot of different faces and they all did well – so guys coming in who have been with us for a long time, with more caps, can be encouraging."

Where to watch

The match will be streamed free-to-air for viewers in Scotland live with commentary on ViaPlay’s international YouTube, while the Scotland National Team YouTube channel will also stream ViaPlay’s broadcast.