Billy Gilmour: Scotland wonderkid midfielder tests positive for Covid-19

Billy Gilmour, who has tested positive for Covid and will unfortunately be missing from the Scottish line-up against Croatia at Hampden Park (picture above) tomorrow night.

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By Bill Heaney

Billy Gilmour, unmercifully praised by the Scottish media for a young person of his age, has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss Scotland’s crucial Euro 2020 match with Croatia on Tuesday.

The Scottish FA currently say there are no close contacts for Covid identified from inside the camp, with 25 players fit to face Croatia.

Scotland must win at Hampden tomorrow night to have hope of progression from Group D.

Both Croatia and Scotland have a point apiece after two matches while England and the Czech Republic are on four points prior to their meeting at Wembley.

“The Scottish FA can confirm that a member of the Scotland national team playing squad, Billy Gilmour, has tested positive for Covid-19,” the SFA said.

“Having liaised with Public Health England since the positive test was recorded, Billy will now self-isolate for 10 days.”

Meanwhile, England’s players and support team all returned negative tests on Sunday.

Scotland squad member John Fleck tested positive for coronavirus before the tournament and missed the 2-2 friendly draw with the Netherlands, along with six players left out as a precaution.

Those six players returned in time for the 1-0 friendly win over Luxembourg and Fleck was available for Scotland’s 2-0 defeat by the Czechs and the draw with England.

Scotland star John McGinn from Dalmuir and his grandfather, Jack McGinn, from Dumbarton.

As they prepare for their crucial meeting with Croatia which could see them progress from the Euros group stage for the first time, Scotland have not indulged in gloating about their much-praised performance in Friday’s goalless draw with England at Wembley.

That said, Stephen O’Donnell – declared man of the match by the Scotland manager, Steve Clarke – did reveal that he had tormented Jack Grealish with compliments, on the advice of Grealish’s Aston Villa team mate John McGinn.

“So, the second he came on I was telling him how good looking he was, that I loved his calves and asking him how he got his hair to look like that,” O’Donnell said. “I was told if you kick him or get him really hard, he gets back up and at you.”

© England’s glamour puss Jack Grealish in action against Scotland. 

O’Donnell’s team mate, Stuart Armstrong, who replaced Billy Gilmour with 14 minutes remaining, admitted he had not been on the pitch long enough to hear the banter.

He said that the Scots had largely ignored forecasts of an English win, of which Rio Ferdinand’s assertion that ‘I’ve never been this confident about a game in a major championship’ has been repeated endlessly on social media by the Tartan Army.

“Obviously, there was a lot of expectation from them that they should win the game. We didn’t listen to that,” Armstrong said. “We knew our own qualities and how we wanted to play and, of course, how we wanted to improve or own performance from the first game.

“I think we did that. The boys defended superbly for the whole game. We stifled England, frustrated them and we came out with a very well-deserved point.”

©

England’s Jack Grealish in action with Scott McTominay, who has Helensburgh connections.

The Scots have yet to score in these finals and must do so against Croatia to progress. “It would be a problem if we weren’t creating any chances,” Armstrong said.

“We have had quite a few chances, so it’s just those fine margins that will take us to the next level and will get us a goal, which we do need on Tuesday.

“We have to win and a draw is no good. It’s pretty straightforward.”