IF you wanted to compile a combined XI from the England and Scotland teams, you would almost certainly come up with the England team.
Not even the Scot who is joint-highest scorer in the entire Euros qualifying campaign – Manchester United outcast Scott McTominay – would make Gareth Southgate’s starting XI.
And yet here are Steve Clarke’s Scots, top of their qualifying group with a 100 per cent record, and in a higher Nations League tier than the England side they face at Hampden tonight.
After a 2-0 victory over Spain in March – in which McTominay scored both goals – Manchester City’s Rodri accused the Scots of playing anti-football in a glorious display of rotten grapery.
But here we are in Glasgow for the renewal of hostilities in a fixture which is celebrating its 150th anniversary and, for those of us in Southgate’s generation, represents the great rivalry of our youth.