Scotland squad setback with Celtic stars among four withdrawals as Rangers ace drafted in for first call up

Scotland are due to face Poland at Hampden Park on Thursday in the opening match of their Nations League A campaign with a trip to Lisbon to face Portugal quickly following on Sunday in what will be the nation’s first fixtures since a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign.

However, Clarke will have to make do without four of his original call-ups for the fixtures after Celtic duo James Forrest and Greg Taylor, who both featured in the 3-0 win over Rangers on Sunday, as well as Torino striker Che Adams and goalkeeper Robbie McCrorie, were confirmed to have pulled out of the camp due to injury.

In their place come Barron, who has been promoted from the Under-21s after an impressive start to life at Rangers following his summer switch from Aberdeen, and McCraken, who has been in excellent form since joining Dundee on a permanent transfer in the summer following previous loan spells.

The third and final addition to Clarke's squad is Sassuolo left-back Josh Doig, who is also plucked from Scot Gemmill's Under-21s line-up. The former Hibs man has been drafted into the senior set-up twice previously - in September 2022 and again in November 2023 - as injury cover but has not yet earned his first full cap.

The three new call-ups mean there are now potentially six players in line to make their debuts, with Ryan Gauld, Max Johnston and Ben Doak also uncapped.

While the development represents an opportunity for the newcomers to impress, the loss of four original squad members is a further setback for Clarke who was already without several injured stars including Kieran Tierney, Jack Hendry, Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Lewis Ferguson while Celtic captain Callum McGregor also recently announced his retirement from international football.

Scotland are on a run of just one win from their last 12 games, however, assistant boss John Carver has laughed off the notion that the manager is under any pressure.

“Let’s not forget that our recent games have been against top sides,” said Carver. “And top sides in the world, not just in Europe. So let’s have a bit of realism here. It’s going to be tough because the next six games are going to be exactly the same, coming against top nations. But would you not rather have that? I would. I would rather be playing against Portugal and Poland and Croatia in the next six games because that is challenging. It’s going to be tough, we know that. But I’m sure if you are Tartan Army you want to play games like that.”