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Aston Villa captain John McGinn has set his sights on making Scotland history.
John McGinn has admitted he’s started to dream about becoming Scotland’s record goalscorer.
The Aston Villa skipper, now up to 20 goals in 73 senior appearances, recently overtook Rangers icon Ally McCoist’s goal tally of 19 to rise to fifth in the all-time charts. McGinn needs four more goals to move into the top three ahead of Laure Reilly (22) and Hughie Gallacher (23), while Kenny Dalglish and Denis Law lead the standings with 30 goals each.
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McGinn netted in the UEFA Nations League wins over Croatia and Poland back in November, putting an end to 12 months without a goal for his nation. Scotland have two games remaining in the competition’s League A play-offs and can avoid relegation to League B if they can beat Greece over two legs this week.
Scoring in a third successive outing for the Tartan Army would certainly help McGinn as he sets out to move closer to the impressive career totals achieved by Liverpool and Manchester United heroes Dalglish and Law.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a motivation to be amongst those names,” McGinn said via the Edinburgh Evening News. “I like to wind Ally McCoist up a wee bit when I see him! Obviously, if I had to choose the team winning over me scoring, I would still, but I sort of have it in the back of my mind.
“It's something that I think is achievable. I think 10 more goals to match Kenny Dalglish and Denis Law is something I never thought I would say. So I've got it in the back of my mind, but first and foremost, I want to keep the team in Division A. If I manage to nick a couple and creep up towards it then even better.”
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McGinn in awe of Denis Law
UEFA Champions League quarter-finalist McGinn is already considered a legend among the Hampden Park faithful but his iconic status would rocket to new heights if he were to achieve his new goalscoring target. At his current rate, the 30-year-old scores once every 3.65 appearances for Scotland, meaning he could theoretically reach 30 goals on his 110th cap.
Regardless of whether he’s able to achieve those ambitions, McGinn has the utmost respect for Law and what he did for Scotland over so many years. He’s not old enough to remember watching him but he’s certainly heard enough to appreciate his greatness.
“I didn't meet him (Law) at all. Obviously I was aware of how good he was,” McGinn added. “My dad told me, my grandpa, everyone sort of idolised him whether it was people down south, people up here. Everyone always spoke about how good a player he was and I think his record speaks for itself.
“I think he had 30 goals for Scotland and maybe even under 60 caps which is an extraordinary achievement. So everyone that speaks to him spoke so highly of him and I think the respect our football world showed him just shows how highly he was thought of and what a player he was.”