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.”
