Scotland vs Greece
UEFA Nations League Play-Off Second Leg
Sunday, 23 March 2025
Hampden Park, Glasgow   

Scorers

Scotland 0

Greece 3 (Giannis Konstantelias 20’, Karetsas 42’, Tzolis 46’)

Greece win 4-1 on aggregate.

Team News

Steve Clarke made one change to the side that started Thursday evening’s win in Piraeus, with Ryan Christie coming in to replace Lewis Ferguson.

James Wilson became the youngest ever men’s senior Scotland international of the modern era as he replaced captain Andy Robertson on 73 minutes.

 

There were landmark caps for John McGinn, Scott McTominay and Kenny McLean, as they won their 75th, 60th and 50th caps respectively.

As It Happened

Following a terrifically observed minutes applause to commemorate the life of Dennis Law, Scotland got proceedings underway in front of a noisy Hampden Park crowd.

 

Greece, down by one in the tie, started brightly and had an early shout for a penalty waved away following Giannis Konstantelias’ driving run into the box.

Moments later, and Scotland had their own shout for a penalty dismissed as Ché Adams went down under the challenge of Giorgios Vagiannidis but the referee deemed the challenge to be a natural coming together.

Scotland worked Tzolakis for the first time on five minutes when Scott McTominay was released by Anthony Ralston forcing a sharp save from the goalkeeper as the Napoli man looked to find the far corner.

It was McTominay again who looked to break the deadlock moments later, as his deflected shot fooled half of Hampden Park as it nestled into the side netting.

Despite Scotland’s positive start it was the away side who took the lead on 19 minutes. Good work from Konstantinos Karetsas released Vagiannidis on the right whose cut back found Konstantelias, who made no mistake with the finish to level the tie on aggregate.

The Scots’ response to going behind was positive, looking a threat every time they drove forward. John McGinn forced yet another save from Tzolakis who made himself big to prevent Scotland from equalising on the night and taking the lead of the tie.

Greece doubled their lead on the night and in doing so took the lead in the tie on 42 minutes. Karetsas was picked out on the right of the penalty area by Konstantelias before curling the ball into the top corner first time on his left foot.

That proved to be the last action of note in the first 45 as Scotland headed into the interval 2-0 down on the night and trailing 2-1 on aggregate.

Seconds after the whistle had blown for the start of the second half and Greece had added a third. Christos Tzolis was slipped through by Konstantelias before slotting the ball past Craig Gordon.

5 minutes later and Karetsas came close to scoring again as he looked to emulate his strike in the first half, though this time his effort looped narrowly over the crossbar.

Greece were inches away from adding another on 65 minutes when a mix up at the back between Grant Hanley and Craig Gordon let Vangelis Pavlidis in behind. Pavlidis lobbed Gordon, though John Souttar was there to acrobatically clear off the line.

James Wilson made history in the 73rd minute as he came on to replace skipper Andy Robertson and in doing so became Scotland’s youngest ever senior men’s international of the modern era.

Despite Scotland’s persistence, they lacked that cutting edge that the visitors had in abundance throughout the match. The Greece backline held firm in the second half to keep hold of the clean sheet and in doing so closed out the tie with a 3-0 victory on the night, and 4-1 on aggregate, as Scotland succumbed to relegation to League B of the UEFA Nations League, on what was a disappointing night at Hampden.

Teams

Scotland: Gordon, Ralston, Robertson (Wilson 73’), McTominay, Hanley, McGinn, Gilmour (Tierney 55’), Adams (Hirst 55’), Christie (Conway 73’), Souttar, McLean (Ferguson 55’)

Unused Substitutes: Kelly, Slicker, Hendry, McKenna, Nisbet, Miller, Johnston

Greece: Tzolakis, Giannoulis, Koulierakis, Mavropanos, Vagiannidis, Zafeiris, Mouzakitis (Ioannidis 83’), Karetsas (Masouras 73’), Konstantelias (Pelkas 72’), Tzolis (Retsos 90+2’), Pavlidis (Galanopoulos 83’)

Unused Substitutes: Vlachodimos, Mandas, Chatzidiakos, Fountas, Rota, Chatzidiakos, Mantalos, Tsimikas

Next-Up - SWNT v Germany

The next Scotland home game comes at Tannadice Park, as our Scotland Women's National Team host Germany in their UEFA Women's Nations League campaign. You can get your tickets here.