Liverpool FC left-back Andrew Robertson is set to move into third place on Scotland's all-time appearances list if he makes his 81st appearance in the first leg of the Nations League play-off in Greece on Thursday.
That would take him past Darren Fletcher, leaving just Jim Leighton (91) and the King himself, Kenny Dalglish (102) ahead of him.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, Robertson revealed that he had spoken to Dalglish about that, engaging in a bit of light-hearted banter with the Celtic and Liverpool legend:
“I actually said to Kenny the other week, ‘I’m coming for you. His reply was plenty of players have said that before and he’s still the main man.”
“I love playing for Scotland, showing up for every camp, and I want to get as many caps as I can. Wherever that takes me, it takes me. I’m incredibly proud to get to 80.”
“You just deal with what’s in front of you. There’s so much going on, you can’t look too far ahead.”
“You need a bit of luck with injuries but I do everything I can to make sure I’m in the best possible shape for Liverpool and Scotland.”
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Robbo addressed the speculation linking LFC with a new left-back in the summer:
“I think we’ve been linked with pretty much every left-back in the world.”
“That comes with playing with one of the greatest clubs in the world. I look back on these eight years I’ve had as the starting left-back at that club and I feel a lot of pride.
“Your time comes and I don’t think it’s my time yet but even if we do bring someone in, then so be it. I’ll always back myself.”
“Sure, this season there have been a couple of moments when I haven’t covered myself in glory but some things have been taken way out of proportion.”
“I think the performance levels have been there for me. I think I’ve had a relatively good season but one thing people will say about me is that I’ve been pretty consistent, so when you make a couple of mistakes, then people can talk.”
“That’s the world we live in, that’s the Premier League. Everyone has eyes on you, everyone has an opinion.”
“It is what it is but I’m always confident in my ability. I’ve shown that right throughout my career but especially during my time at Liverpool.”
I think... barring the string of mistakes he made early in the season, Robertson has actually been pretty good. Some of his better performances have coincidentally come in games where Liverpool have not achieved the results they wanted— such as the 2nd leg against PSG, so those tend to be overlooked. He does need to have his minutes managed going forward, especially if he continues to be a key player for Scotland, and that’s where a new left-back would help.