Scotland concern over Napoli absence as Lewis Ferguson triumphs in battle of Serie A compatriots

The 43-times capped Napoli midfielder missed his side's goalless draw with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League in midweek after being forced off with a groin injury in the first half of the Serie A stalemate against Como last weekend.

All eyes were on whether Gilmour would return to the Napoli squad for the trip to Bologna on Sunday but the 24-year-old was posted missing for the second match running sparking fears over his availability for Scotland in the coming week.

Gilmour was named in head coach Steve Clarke's squad for the pivotal matches which could secure Scotland's qualification for next summer's World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico and a first appearance at the finals since France 1998.

Scotland will hope to have the former Brighton and Chelsea star available as they look to secure at least a point from their trip to Greece on Saturday to set up a winner-takes-all showdown against Denmark in the Group C decider at Hampden Park next Tuesday.

Both Scotland and Denmark have collected 10 points from their opening four fixtures but the Danes have a superior goal difference which means avoiding defeat in Glasgow would be enough for them providing they beat Belarus at home in their penultimate fixture.

While Gilmour's fitness will be a worry for Clarke, it was not all bad news for the Scotland boss as Lewis Ferguson put in another strong display while captaining Bologna to a 2-0 win over Napoli.

The former Aberdeen midfielder triumphed in the battle of the Scots at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara with international team-mate Scott McTominay unable to bring his usual level of inspiration to a Napoli side who have now gone three matches without scoring a goal.

Napoli, the defending champions, started the weekend as league leaders but the defeat to Bologna saw them drop to fourth and allowed Inter Milan to move into top spot with a 2-0 win at home to Lazio.

The victory for Bologna moved them up to fifth in the Italian top flight standings with only three points seperating them from leaders Inter, with Roma, Milan and Napoli all sandwiched in between.

Elsewhere in Serie A this weekend, Lennon Miller was left out of the Udinese matchday squad altogether for their 2-0 defeat at Roma as his struggles for game-time continue following his £4.7million summer transfer from Motherwell, while Che Adams was brought off the bench at half-time in Torino's 0-0 draw at Juventus.

Josh Doig, who missed out on Scotland squad selection, appeared as a substitute for the final nine minutes of Sassuolo's impressive 3-0 win away to Atalanta.