Key events
GOAL! Greece 0-1 Scotland (McTominay pen 33)
There’s a VAR check over the award of the penalty, but Rota definitely kicked into McTominay’s standing leg. McTominay takes the resulting spot kick himself, and sweeps into the right-hand side of the net, sending Tzolakis the wrong way. It’s that man again!
31 min: Greece 0-0 Scotland. PENALTY FOR SCOTLAND! McTominay strides into the Greek box down the inside-left channel. Upon entering the box, he’s clipped by Rota, and the referee points to the spot!
GOAL! Netherlands 1-1 Spain (Gakpo 28)
Cody Gakpo, after that aforementioned below-par week, is back, baby! He sweeps a first-time shot into the bottom left, meeting Kluivert’s perfectly weighted tee-up beautifully.
27 min: Greece 0-0 Scotland. … Robertson’s delivery causes all manner of mayhem in the Greek six-yard box. Some pinball. Then a chance falls to the prone McTominay, who swivels on his backside before hooking wide left of goal. It was easier for McTominay to hit the target, given the amount of seat-of-pants shoogling required to reposition himself, though the flag went up for some infringement or other anyway.
26 min: Greece 0-0 Scotland. Robertson looks for McTominay with a low cross from the right. McTominay prepares to slam home but Tsimikas comes across to hack out for a corner. And from the set piece …
24 min: Bulgaria 1-1 Ireland. Kick for kick, that Azaz goal wasn’t exactly the same as this stone-cold classic. But it had the same gloriously queasy zig-zag rhythm.
GOAL! Bulgaria 1-1 Ireland (Azaz 21)
A free kick for Ireland just to the right of the centre circle. Doherty sprays it wide left to Brady, who launches it diagonally towards Parrott at the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Mitov goes to collect but Parrott hooks the ball back across the face of goal, and Azaz can’t miss from six yards!
22 min: Greece 0-0 Scotland. Another Scottish corner from the right. Robertson loops it straight down Tzolakis’s throat for the second time.
19 min: Netherlands 0-1 Spain. Cucurella crosses long from the left. Morata rises at the far stick and isn’t far away from guiding a header across the keeper and into the left-hand side of the net. Just wide.
18 min: Greece 0-0 Scotland. Ferguson dribbles with menace down the right to win Scotland’s first corner of the evening. But the set piece is easily claimed by Tzolakis in the Greek goal. Scotland will be content enough with things so far.
16 min: Greece 0-0 Scotland. The visitors look comfortable … one cross in from the right apart, but Ralston deals with it well, with attackers lurking at the back stick.
13 min: Bulgaria 1-0 Ireland. The Irish had started reasonably confidently, until Bulgaria scored with their first attack of the match. Now they’re looking nervous, and Despodov glides in from the left before aiming towards the top right. He doesn’t get enough whip on his shot and it’s a good claim by Kelleher.
GOAL! Italy 1-0 Germany (Tonali 9)
So much for Germany’s decent start. Barella strokes a pass down the right to feed Politano, whose low cross is only half cleared. Racing in from the left, one of Newcastle’s hoodoo-busting heroes, Sandro Tonali, who hammers home. A fine few days’ work for Tonali all right.
GOAL! Netherlands 0-1 Spain (Williams 9)
Ronald Koeman looks on, wearing a face, as Hato is robbed in the left-back position. The ball’s worked right to left by Spain towards Williams, who spins elegantly six yards out and slots. Verbruggen no chance. Hato undressed.
GOAL! Bulgaria 1-0 Ireland (Petkov 6)
Krastev, his back to goal on the edge of the Irish D, backheels cutely to Petkov, who threads a forensic first-time shot across the flat-footed Kelleher and into the bottom right.
4 min: Italy 0-0 Germany. The Germans on top in these early stages. A corner in from the right. A free kick in from the left. The Italian defence does what Italian defences have done for so long. Easy enough.
3 min: Netherlands 0-0 Spain. The Dutch respond through Gakpo, who has looked awfully unfit in Liverpool’s recent defeats to PSG and Newcastle, but appears a bit sharper already tonight. In from the left he zips, and aims a curler towards the top right. Always wide, always high.
2 min: Netherlands 0-0 Spain. The first shot on target in Rotterdam comes courtesy of Pedri, who slaps it straight at Verbruggen. An easy claim.
2 min: Greece 0-0 Scotland. … but they get the ball back and win a free kick out on the right. It’s swung in and half cleared, but when McGinn attempts to whistle the ball through a crowded box, the whistle goes for too much Caledonian pushing and shoving. A confident-enough start by the Scots, though.
And we’re off! Scotland kick off in Greece, and lose the ball within the first six seconds. Onwards and upwards.
Piraeus, Rotterdam, Milan, Plovdiv … everybody’s talking about Pop Musik! … the teams are out! Across Europe, we’ll be off once the anthems are done.
Heimir Hallgrímsson makes seven changes to the Irish starting XI after the 5-0 thumping at Wembley. Six of them are enforced: Liam Scales and Jayson Molumby are suspended, while Sammie Szmodics, Callum O’Dowda, Mark McGuinness and Festy Ebosele are injured. Evan Ferguson drops to the bench. In come: Mikey Johnston, Robbie Brady, Troy Parrott, Matt Doherty, Ryan Manning, Finn Azaz and Jason Knight.
Steve Clarke talks to BBC Scotland: “Come into the stadium and you’re buzzing already … was tempted to go to a back five but decided to stick with the four … the four over the group stage worked well … we created a little bit more … more midfield players on the pitch … it is a very quick start on a Thursday … the only time I had all the players on the pitch was on Wednesday just before we flew to Greece so we didn’t have a lot of time to change the system … so we stuck with what we worked on for the previous six games.”
Steve Clarke sticks to four at the back … by the looks of it, given how the returning Kieran Tierney is on the bench. There are just two changes to the team that started the dramatic 2-1 win in Poland last November: Lewis Ferguson and Che Adams step up with Ben Doak and Lyndon Dykes missing out altogether.
Greece v Scotland teams
Greece: Tzolakis, Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas, Siopis, Mantalos, Masouras, Konstantelias, Tzolis, Ioannidis.
Subs: Vlachodimos, Mandas, Vagiannidis, Retsos, Zafeiris, Pelkas, Fountas, Pavlidis, Mouzakitis, Hatzidiakos, Karetsas, Giannoulis.
Scotland: Gordon, Ralston, Souttar, Hanley, Robertson, Gilmour, McLean, McGinn, McTominay, Ferguson, Adams.
Subs: Kelly, Slicker, Tierney, Conway, Wilson, Hendry, Porteous, McKenna, Nisbet, Hirst, Miller, Johnston.
Bulgaria v Rep. Ireland teams
Bulgaria: Mitov, Popov, Atanasov, Alex Petkov, Nurnberger, Despodov, Krastev, Gruev, Lukas Petkov, Andrian Kraev, Marin Petkov.
Subs: Sheytanov, Plamen Iliev, Antov, Kirilov, Nikolov, Bozhidar Kraev, Shopov, Nedyalkov, Simeon Petrov, Minkov, Panayotov, Ilian Iliev.
Republic of Ireland: Kelleher, Doherty, Collins, O’Shea, Manning, Knight, Cullen, Azaz, Johnston, Brady, Parrott.
Subs: Bazunu, Travers, O’Brien, Ferguson, Idah, Dunne, Sykes, Vata, Moran, Taylor, Armstrong, Abankwah.
The quarter-final teams
Croatia: Livakovic, Stanisic, Caleta-Car, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Modric, Kovacic, Perisic, Baturina, Kramaric, Budimir.
Subs: Kotarski, Ivusic, Pongracic, Moro, Mario Pasalic, Vlasic, Fruk, Jakic, Sosa, Ivanovic, Petar Sucic, Juranovic.
France: Maignan, Kounde, Konate, Saliba, Digne, Guendouzi, Tchouameni, Rabiot, Dembele, Muani, Mbappe.
Subs: Samba, Chevalier, Pavard, Upamecano, Camavinga, Doue, Olise, Kone, Zaire Emery, Barcola, Clauss, Hernandez.
Denmark: Schmeichel, Kristensen, Vestergaard, Andersen, Isaksen, Hjulmand, Eriksen, Norgaard, Maehle, Biereth, Lindstrom.
Subs: Hermansen, Jorgensen, Nelsson, Frendrup, Dorgu, Hojlund, Hogsberg, Skov Olsen, Wind, Harder, Froholdt.
Portugal: Costa, Dalot, Dias, Veiga, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Fernandes, Joao Neves, Pedro Neto, Ronaldo, Leao.
Subs: Jose Sa, Rui Silva, Nelson Semedo, Antonio Silva, Joao Palhinha, Bernardo Silva, Joao Felix, Inacio, Quenda, Ruben Neves, Trincao, Jota.
Italy: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Politano, Barella, Rovella, Tonali, Udogie, Kean, Raspadori.
Subs: Meret, Vicario, Buongiorno, Ricci, Maldini, Lucca, Frattesi, Ruggeri, Zaccagni, Casadei, Gatti, Bellanova.
Germany: Baumann, Kimmich, Tah, Rudiger, Raum, Gross, Goretzka, Sane, Musiala, Amiri, Burkardt.
Subs: Ortega, Nubel, Andrich, Stiller, Leweling, Undav, Adeyemi, Kleindienst, Mittelstadt, Schlotterbeck, Bisseck, Koch.
Netherlands: Verbruggen, Geertruida, van Hecke, van Dijk, Hato, de Jong, Reijnders, Frimpong, Kluivert, Gakpo, Depay.
Subs: Olij, Flekken, Simons, Koopmeiners, Brobbey, de Ligt, Taylor, Lang, Malen, Wieffer, Baas.
Spain: Simon, Porro, Le Normand, Cubarsi, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Zubimendi, Fabian, Yamal, Morata, Williams.
Subs: Raya, Remiro, Grimaldo, Merino, Perez, Olmo, Aghehowa, Mingueza, Huijsen, Garcia, Baena, Oyarzabal.
Preamble
Welcome to this Nations League edition of our ever-lovable Clockwatch feature. There are two huge quarter-final showdowns …
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Italy v Germany
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Netherlands v Spain
… plus the start of Scotland’s attempt to complete their Homeric League A survival bid …
… so we’ll be keeping close tabs on all of those. But that’s not all, because the other quarters are pretty tasty too …
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Croatia v France
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Denmark v Portugal
… and Ireland are seeking to lock down League B football next time round …
… so there’s plenty to be getting on with tonight. All the matches, featuring repeats of the 1982, 2010 and 2018 World Cup finals, kick off at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!