Scotland handed major injury concern as 13-cap striker offers Steve Clarke timely reminder of his talents

The former-Celtic midfielder has been pivotal to the Cherries this season as they battle to finish in the European spots, but was forced to leave the pitch after just 26 minutes last night as goals from Joao Pedro and Danny Welbeck saw them fall to defeat at the Amex Stadium.

With just over three weeks to go until the first leg of the Nations League playoff with Greece, Christie’s injury is a major problem for Clarke, who is already sweating on the fitness of Ben Doak and John Souttar ahead of the crucial two-legged affair.

Following the game, Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola said the 27-year-old Scottish midfielder would need to be assessed post-match to determine the severity of the injury, revealing that Christie had been dealing with a groin issue throughout the season.

“We’ve missed Illia [Zabarnyi] and Ryan Christie,” Iraola admitted following the game. “They give us a high level and it is difficult to replace this high level. He [Christie] felt something in the groin. He is having some issues within the season, and he has been dealing with these issues. Today though, he felt something different and we will assess him.

“The players we have recovering are healthy, but they don’t have the competitive state as the ones playing playing regularly. So we have to wait for them until they get into competitive state. We will try to deal with this situation.”

Elsewhere, 13-cap international forward Oliver Burke provided a timely reminder of his goal scoring talents last night after bagging a goal in Werder Bremen’s narrow 2-1 defeat Arminia Bielefeld in the DFB Pokal quarter-final. The Scottish striker was introduced to the fold at half-time by manager Ole Werner after a disastrous first-half saw Die Werderaner go 2-0 down before the break.

Burke was able to reduce the deficit early in the second period, connecting with Leonardo Bittencourt’s cross to blast home his third goal in 13 appearances. The 27-year-old has not featured for Scotland since 2020, but has been impressive in recent cameos for his club side. Scotland international Tommy Conway was also on the scoresheet last night, helping Middlesbrough half a five game losing streak by grabbing the third goal in the 3-1 win over Stoke City.