Scotland captain is walking yellow-card tightrope
Andy Robertson knows he is a respected member of the Scotland team as he homes in on 100 caps and edges ever nearer Kenny Dalglish’s international record.
But there’s one thing the skipper knows he can’t help his teammates with: advice on how to beat Alisson Becker. The Brazil and Liverpool ‘keeper will stand between Scotland and potential history in Miami on Wednesday night.
Robertson, who is set to win his 97th cap, has told Lawrence Shankland et al that there’s no point asking him for pointers, as he could never even beat his old pal in training.
Scotland captain Andy Robertson played with Brazil keeper Alisson during his time at Liverpool.placeholder image
Scotland captain Andy Robertson played with Brazil keeper Alisson during his time at Liverpool. | AFP via Getty Images
“I’d like to think the squad respect me but I’m not sure how much they respect my shooting so much,” he said at the Miami stadium ahead of Scotland’s last group match.
“I don’t think they’ll take any advice off me on how to beat Alisson. I’ve trained with him for eight years and I can count on hand how many I’ve scored against him at training. I’ve certainly not cracked it yet! But when our strikers come to shoot, hopefully they can get the better of him.
“When a chance comes, hopefully we can take it. We’re coming up against the best keeper in the world. But we have to believe we can score against Brazil. If we don’t, there’s no point showing up. That’s our aim. If we can do that hopefully it can be a big night for our country.
“But we know how difficult the task is and the team we’re playing against. They have world class individual quality in every position.”
Alisson, though, is a particularly tricky customer. “I’ve been very lucky to play with Ali for the last eight years,” he said. “In big moments, Ali was always there for us. Even when our defence was not at its best, sometimes teams would get through, but we could always rely on Ali to go and make the saves. He’s an unbelievable goalkeeper and even better person. He’s someone I admire so much, him and his family.
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“I’m lucky to be close to them because they’re fantastic people. But I really hope he’s picking the ball out of his net maybe a couple of times on Wednesday - more than I’m used to!”
Robertson is playing with the prospect of suspension looming over him. Already on a booking, the left-back will miss Scotland’s last 32 clash if they qualify and Robertson receives another booking. It’s not the kind of extra jeopardy that is desired when up against the likes of Vinicius Junior and, potentially, Neymar.
Robertson admitted he wasn’t worrying about the suspension tightrope until the subject was brought up in the press conference. “You have to play the game,” he said. “That is part of football. You can’t start worrying about suspensions and anything else that goes along with that. I know there’s a few of us on bookings.
“Football is what it is. You have to go in 100 per cent in everything you do. We will be going in 100 per cent to try and get the result. What will be will be. It’s not something I have overly thought about – until about 20 seconds ago! But we go all in tomorrow to try and get the result to create history.”