Scotland man helps side stage major late comeback to keep Champions League dream alive

McKenna, 29, had endured a painful summer with the national team at the World Cup in North America after being forced to miss the opening two group games against Haiti and Morocco with injury, only to make a major mistake upon his return to the starting XI against Brazil as Scotland crashed out of the tournament at the group stages with a 3-0 defeat.

Making just his second appearance since his error in Miami last month, the former Nottingham Forest centre-back was named in Dinamo Zagreb’s starting XI for the second-leg clash against FC Thun, with the home side favourites to qualify for the next round after rescuing a late 1-1 draw in Switzerland last week.

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McKenna’s side got themselves off to the worst possible start at the Maksimir Stadium, though, when Brighton Labeau escaped the attention of the hosts' defence to tap home at the back post after just four minutes, putting FC Thun into a 1-0 lead on the night and 2-1 on aggregate. Things got even worse for Dinamo Zagreb in the 22nd minute when Marco Burki silenced the home crowd with a looping header to double the visitors' advantage.

However, with FC Thun two goals to the good and 3-1 up on aggregate, the game would flip on its head in the 66th minute when goal scorer Burki was given a straight red card in bizarre circumstances. The visitors, who had kicked the ball out due to an injury to one of their players, saw the ball returned by Zagreb in the spirit of fair play, only for skipper Burki to be caught off guard, lose possession as the last man and commit a professional foul.

The Blues would quickly reduce the deficit with their one-man advantage, as Dion Drena Beljo bundled home from inside the area on 74 minutes, before he dramatically levelled the scores when substitute Lukas Kacavenda connected to McKenna’s flick from a corner to fire past Niklas Steffen and force the game into extra-time.

Despite having the majority of possession, the ten men of FC Thun continued to defend resolutely in extra time as they pushed to take the game to a penalty shootout. However, there were left heartbroken just eight minutes from the end of the tie when right-back Moris Valincic blasted home an outstanding long-range winner to put Dinamo Zagreb through to the next round of qualifying with a 3-2 victory (4-3 on aggregate) in the Croatian capital.

Following the game, Dinamo Zagreb manager Mario Kovacevic said: “That's football. I don't know if I've ever experienced a match like this before, but we showed great character. We hadn't lost in 106 days. We conceded from their first two shots and went behind early. Even in the first half, I felt we could score. You always have to stay positive, and that was the message at half-time. We were playing well even before the red card. We wanted to finish the match before penalties, and we're happy we managed to do that."