Assistant coach John Carver has urged his Scotland players to let Erling Haaland and Norway do the worrying ahead of Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifier.
The Scots sit top of Group A, five points clear of Norway, after two games, although Manchester City striker Haaland missed his country’s opening two qualifiers through injury.
The forward is expected to line up in Oslo on Saturday, seven days after completing a monumental first season in England by winning the Champions League to round off a treble which has seen him net 52 goals in 53 games.
But Carver noted that one of Haaland’s club colleagues emerged from his own recent meeting with Scotland in less than happy mood – Spain midfielder Rodri complained of their tactics after a Hampden defeat in March.
Carver said: “You know what’s amazing? These guys are at their best when they are playing against the best.
“We have a great example from the recent game against Spain where Rodri, who just got man of the match in the Champions League final for Man City on Saturday, and you saw his reaction after the (Scotland) game.
“Yes we have to be aware that he (Haaland) is special and they have got one or two other special players, but we have to make sure we take care of ourselves and set our own high standards.
“They will be worried about some of our players so we really need to focus on us. Deal with the situation, yeah we will do one or two little things, but it’s about us.
“They will be worried about John McGinn, Scott McTominay, people like that, Callum McGregor.
“We have a force that can be reckoned with and they will have seen that, because they will have watched the Spain game, and the Cyprus game. So they will realise that we have got some talent in our team.
“We are at our best when we are right at it. The attitude of the guys coming back in has been brilliant, so I have got no doubt that they will be at it, it’s whether we put in that performance that gets us a good result.”
Scotland have put themselves in a strong position and a win in Norway would leave them on track to finish in the top two and seal automatic qualification for Germany, with a home game against Georgia to follow next Tuesday.
“Confidence is high but there is no arrogance in there,” Carver said. “And that’s down to the type of guys we have got in the squad. There’s no superstars. You can’t afford to go big-time in our group because there’s always somebody in the background ready to knock you down, and that’s so important.
“These guys have got themselves in a position, I am sure they will not take anything for granted. They know they are in for a difficult two games.”
Boss Steve Clarke took the bulk of his players to a training camp in Spain last week, wary of avoiding another difficult June after Scotland suffered play-off disappointment against Ukraine and a 3-0 Nations League loss to the Republic of Ireland 12 months ago.
Preparations continue at Lesser Hampden this week amid a heatwave ahead of the trip to Oslo, which is due to experience temperatures in the 30s.
Carver said: “It’s great preparation. I don’t know where Haaland is at the moment but he is probably still celebrating the fantastic year they have had.
“We had a couple of rainy days last week but if we are training in it all week we will be prepared for the warm weather over there.
“We learned from our mistakes last year because when the season ended at different times, players went off on holiday and did various things, and we only had a small group to work with.
“So we decided to bring most of the players in, obviously some of the guys were playing in cup finals and they got a little bit of time off. But the majority of the group were with us in Spain and we had a five-day training camp and some days double training sessions.
“So our preparation going into these two games was a lot better than it was this time last year.”
Girona boss Michel seeking consistency after poor start
Michel wants to see Girona turn in more performances of the level they showed against Rayo Vallecano in midweek, despite the fact they drew that game 0-0.
Winless in four consecutive games in all competitions, last season's surprise LaLiga challengers Girona dominated proceedings on Wednesday with 70% possession, accumulating 2.0 expected goals (xG).
Having gone toe-to-toe with giants Real Madrid and Barcelona for much of last campaign before eventually finishing third, Girona now sit 12th in the LaLiga standings on eight points from seven matches.
They face Celta Vigo on Sunday, and ahead of that match, Michel said: "We shouldn't compare ourselves to last year because we are a different team.
"I really liked the team against Rayo, and if we had that level and continuity before against Valencia (a 2-0 loss) and Barcelona (a 4-1 defeat), I would be very happy.
"Rayo didn't score against us, they were defending the whole game and that's not easy to achieve. I'm convinced that we need to give continuity to the idea we had the other day, only then will we be close to winning more games."
Girona sold LaLiga's top scorer from last season, Artem Dovbyk, to Roma over the summer, but Michel is not concerned by a lack of goalscoring prowess from his side.
"We have the capacity to finish more plays and we have to find the timing to do it now. This is our concern and the training sessions are going in that direction," he added.
The Spaniard was full of praise for Celta, who are 10th in LaLiga with one more point than Girona.
"They have started the league well," Michel said. "They are the best team in terms of ball circulation, and they do things very well.
"They are a team that hurts you with the ball and that's why we have to impose our game, make good possessions and arrive well in the opponent's half and in the opponent's goal."
Rodgers salutes Celtic's 'Champions League mentality' in St. Johnstone rout
Brendan Rodgers paid tribute to Celtic's "Champions League mentality" in their 6-0 rout of St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
Kyogo Furuhashi scored twice, while Paulo Bernardo, Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah were also on target for the Hoops, who warmed up for their midweek European trip to Borussia Dortmund in emphatic fashion.
The dominant victory moved Celtic back to the top of the Scottish Premiership table - ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference - as they continued their perfect start to the season, with a sixth win in as many games.
And Rodgers was pleased by the character his players demonstrated.
"I thought this was an opportunity to show our mentality," he told Premier Sports. "All the noise has been about Dortmund, but I wanted a Champions League mentality here, and I thought the boys controlled the game.
"We wanted to keep our rhythm going. You see some of the guys coming in this evening, like Valle coming in at left-back, showing his composure.
"Most were looking at it as a tick-box before Dortmund, but for me, it was to show their mentality. Everyone will be flying on Tuesday night, but I want to see how they do when they’re here, or other grounds. It’s a case of just focusing in on that.
"I thought the variety of our game was very good; everything you'd want from your team."
Looking ahead to Tuesday's clash with Bundesliga giants Dortmund, he added: "[They] are a good team with top players, so we can't get away from that.
"OK, they've lost one or two [players] from last year, but I always say we make sure we press, make sure we attack. It's a tough game, but we'll look forward to it."
Osasuna 4-2 Barcelona: Budimir brace condemns LaLiga leaders to first defeat
Barcelona suffered their first LaLiga defeat of the season after going down 4-2 against Osasuna at Estadio El Sadar.
Ante Budimir scored twice, while Bryan Zaragoza and substitute Abel Bretones were also on target for the hosts, who claimed their first league win over the Blaugrana in nine attempts.
Osasuna were unbeaten in their six previous home league games and took an 18th-minute lead when Budimir nodded home from Zaragoza's cross.
The latter, who is on loan from Bayern Munich, doubled the advantage 10 minutes later when he rounded off a swift counter.
Pau Victor halved the deficit eight minutes after the restart, but Budimir's 72nd-minute penalty put the hosts back in control, before Bretones made it 4-1 with seven minutes remaining.
Lamine Yamal climbed off the bench to reduce Barca's arrears, but it was a consolation for Hansi Flick's side, who dropped their first points this term.
Data Debrief: Flick misses out on matching Martino
Flick was aiming to become only the second Barca manager after Gerardo Martino in 2013-14 to oversee eight straight victories at the start of a LaLiga season.
However, he and the visitors were denied by their inspired hosts, who have now recorded four successive home league wins for the first time since September 2011.
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