Clarke: Scotland are 'in a good place' as Euros countdown begins

Steve Clarke believes Scotland are ready for Euro 2020 after defeating Luxembourg 1-0 in their final warm-up game.

Che Adams scored the only goal of the game against a Luxembourg side that dug in after being reduced to ten men in the first half.

The victory followed an impressive performance in drawing 2-2 with Netherlands on Wednesday and means Scotland go into the finals tournament with only two defeats from their last 16 games.

Clarke was happy with the general performance and contributions from individuals in the friendly and the manager believes that on another night they could have returned a bigger scoreline.

“We had lots of chances,” he said. “Lyndon Dykes is in there a little bit disappointed in himself that he didn’t get the match ball to be honest, he had so many chances.

“Che had a few as well. It was nice to work with the two strikers. I wanted to have a look at them in one of the two games so it was nice to have a look at them.”

The national team boss has used all but two of his 26-man squad across two games in the last week and said he had plenty of selection headaches after seeing useful contributions from players in all areas of the pitch. He enjoyed the opportunity to field two of his Premier League stars in the same midfield and said that there were plenty of positives he could take from the last week.

“I wanted to have a look at a different combination in midfield with John McGinn and Scott McTominay and that was interesting and there was more game time for some of the players that required it,” he said.

“So, good exercise, good training camp, two good friendlies and I can’t wait for next week. We are in a good place.”

Chelsea teenager Billy Gilmour was introduced as a substitute and the young midfielder put in an eye-catching display before a bruising late challenge from Olivier Thill saw him taken off as a precaution.

“There is no concussion as far we know,” said Clarke.

“He is a tough boy. He is from Ardrossan. The good news is he is fine. We took him off as a precaution. The doctor will assess him over the next couple of days. I didn’t really get a good view of the challenge, I haven’t seen it back yet.

“It is one of these things, it happens in football and the reaction of the players was good, they got around it for a little bit of protection, showing they are together.”

All focus is now on the Euro 2020 opening match against Czech Republic on June 14, with matches against England and Croatia to follow.

“We are going try to be on the front foot as much as the opponents allow us,” Clarke said. “We are playing good teams so at times we might suffer without the ball.

“But when we have the ball, we are going to be on the front foot and create chances like we did tonight and against the Dutch the other night.

“We look forward to it. It is a tournament that has been a long time coming and we want to make the most of it.”