St Mirren celebrations after Premier Sports Cup final victory
Midfielder taken off with muscle strain in Serie A clash
Billy Gilmour has emerged as an injury concern for Scotland’s crucial World Cup qualifiers later this month after he came off during the first half of Napoli’s goalless draw at home to Como.
The 24-year-old, who has been capped 41 times by Scotland, was replaced by Eljif Elmas after 37 minutes. He is set to be assessed on Sunday by Napoli medical staff to determine the extent of his injury, which Italian media are reporting to be a muscle strain.
Gilmour was making his sixth successive start for Napoli after enduring a frustrating spell on the sidelines. He has helped them move back to the summit of Serie A but after this draw against Como, they leave themselves open to being usurped by Roma at the end of the weekend, with the I Giallorossi a point behind ahead of their trip to San Siro to face AC Milan on Sunday.
Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour is left on the turf after picking up an injury for Napoli.placeholder image
Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour is left on the turf after picking up an injury for Napoli. | Getty Images
Scotland head coach Steve Clarke will be anxiously awaiting updates on Gilmour’s condition. The former Rangers youngster is a mainstay of the national team set-up and started the last match, a 2-1 win over Belarus.
Scotland face Greece in Piraeus on November 15 before hosting Denmark three days later at Hampden. Assured of a play-off spot, they need to avoid defeat against the Greeks and then beat the Danes to top their group and qualify automatically for the World Cup.
It was a frustrating evening for Napoli, who also had fellow internationalist Scott McTominay in their starting XI. They were given a reprieve when Alvaro Morata missed a penalty on 26 minutes, with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic saving a spot kick for the second match in succession.
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Man Utd loanee Rasmus Hojlund was fit enough to start in attack for Napoli but endured a frustrating evening, coming off for Lorenzo Lucca. The only positive for head coach Antonio Conte was a first appearance of the season for striker Romelu Lukaku, who came on as a late sub after tearing a quad.
Former Celtic forward Nicolas Kuhn was an unused sub for Como.