Celtic star identified as Scotland’s ‘conductor’ by clubmate

Callum McGregor is Scotland’s ‘conductor’ according to a Celtic teammate who reckons Switzerland will run into trouble against them – if the Parkhead skipper is allowed to dictate the game.

Benjamin Siegrist will watch his club teammates jet off to Euro 2024 with McGregor one of the first names on Steve Clarke’s teamsheet for the opener against Germany. Anthony Ralston and Greg Taylor are also stick-ons to be in the squad for the tournament, where the hosts, Switzerland and Hungary stand in Scotland’s way of making history.

Former Dundee United shotstopper Siegrist may be very much an understudy for the Scottish champions having failed to make a league appearance for Celtic and not playing at all since a League Cup tie in October 2022. But he’s been in Scotland for six years and has plenty of respect for Steve Clarke’s side….even though he expects his homeland to win.

Siegrist said: “Scotland are more than just a team who defends resolutely and plays with a lot of physicality. They are not a team that wins every game 3-0 or 4-0, but Steve Clarke has developed the team a lot in recent years.

“The quality has also increased in Scotland’s national team. There is a real passion under Clarke. He has switched to a three-man or five-man defence, relies more on possession and controlled build-up and no longer just wants his players to hit long balls. The team has many players who are in the English Premier League. It is certainly not just full of Celtic and Rangers players.

“The best-known players are Liverpool’s left-back Andy Robertson and Scott McTominay from Manchester United, but they definitely have attacking options even after the loss of Lyndon Dykes. I played with Lawrence Shankland at Dundee United. In my eyes, he is a goal machine, even if he has not yet been able to prove it in the national team.

“Callum McGregor is a conductor in midfield both for my club Celtic and Scotland in the No.6 role. John McGinn has made huge progress at Aston Villa and Billy Gilmour already has a lot of Premier League experience. It will be a physical match and Switzerland will be up against a strong team. The Scots’ main focus will probably be on defence, but they are good on the counter-attack. Scotland also knows that we have good players too and have tournament experience. But I believe, if our team has patience and is ready for a physical battle, we will beat Scotland.”

Meanwhile the Scots will be piped into their Euro 2024 HQ on arrival after the mayor of their German base revealed they plan to roll out the red carpet for Steve Clarke’s men. Thousands of Tartan Army fans will begin the pilgrimage to Germany next week ahead of the opening game of the tournament against the hosts a week today.

The Scotland squad fly out to Germany on June 9 and will base themselves in the Bavarian town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And the town’s mayor, Elisabeth Koch, has revealed they have pulled out all the stops to welcome the Scots.

She said: “Our brass bands from Garmisch and Partenkirchen are rehearsing in the Bayernhalle just now. And in just a few days, a Bavarian-Scottish celebration will take place at the Mohrenplatz in the city centre when the Scottish national team is welcomed.

“In addition to alphorns, trumpets and tubas, there will be an instrument that has not been heard here before – the bagpipe. The Garmisch-Partenkirchen Tourist Board has hired a professional bagpiper from Nuremberg for this event. He is now on stage in a kilt, the other musicians in lederhosen and dirndls and together they are rehearsing the song Highland Cathedral for their arrival.

“It is an honour that the Scots are our guests here. I myself come from a family that used to run a guest house and for my parents, the guests in their house were everything. After the Scottish team arrives in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, there will be a large parade and white and blue flowers will have been planted everywhere, coincidentally the colours of Bavaria and Scotland. The idea here is clear – the kilt meets the lederhosen.”