The Celtic Players Past and Present Most Likely to Make an Impact in Scotland’s Euro 2020 Team

With Scotland’s one-off Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Israel on the horizon, all eyes are now turning to the potential make-up of the Scottish team for this vital match.

Scotland has already earned its place in this matchup by coming top of the Nations League Group C1 with Israel nipping at their heels.

While most pundits and fans aren’t expecting much of a challenge from the Israeli team, as they have lost their last four away Euro qualifiers and 36 places further down the FIFA world rankings than Scotland, a strong showing here could give the team the confidence it needs to face tougher matches down the line versus Norway or Serbia.

In this article, we’ll be looking at which players who currently or formerly played for Celtic might have the most impact on the Scottish National Team’s success in Euro 2020.

Kieran Tierney

While Kieran Tierney might have moved away from Celtic to play for Arsenal for a reported £25 million fee and become the most expensive Scottish player, there is no doubt about the club that gave him his start in football.

Having come up through the club’s development squad and even had a tenure as Captain, Tierney learned his footballing craft at Celtic.

While some might question whether the 21-year-old Tierney has the experience requires for international play, Scotland are far from the only team looking to include fresh blood to shake up stale international results. The current most-punted player for England is 18-year-old Bukayo Saka following a string of impressive performances for the Gunners.

There is also some question about Tierney’s fitness, with him only recently recovering from a double hernia operation in May 2019 and then suffering a dislocated shoulder in the game against West Ham United

However, when he is on form Tierney does stand out as one of the best Scottish defenders available.

James Forrest

A right-winger who has proven himself a tremendous asset to Celtic over the past few season, James Forrest brings a sense of solidity and the ability to score goals with both feet to the Scottish backline.

This isn’t the first time that Forrest has played for the Scottish team, having been capped for Scotland 34 times in total and having scored 5 goals for his country.

Forrest’s style of play has been compared to Celtic legend Jimmy Johnstone because of his pace and his skill on the ball. He brings pace to the right-hand side of the team and has become famous for his ability to make runs of up to 40 yards and still be able to finish with either right or left foot.

While he has had some injury concerns lately, Forrest isn’t plagued by consistent injury in the way that former teammate Tierney is and has a proven ability to play at high intensity for an entire match.

Callum McGregor

Since making his stunning first-team debut for Celtic by scoring against KR Reykjavík in the Champions League, Callum McGregor has provided consistent goal-scoring talent for the club which could easily make the difference for Scotland in the Euros.

Having already scored 13 goals this season, now might be the time for McGregor to make his mark on the Scottish team.

Although he has already proved he can score in critical matches, as he did in the champions league and by scoring the opening goal of the Scottish Cup final, McGregor has mostly ridden the bench for Scotland, having made 18 appearances without scoring a goal, mostly as an unused substitute.

With Scotland needing a goal-scoring edge if they are to overcome teams like Norway or Serbia, McGregor might rightly see the Euros as his time to shine.

Greg John Taylor

One of the biggest weapons in Israel’s arsenal is striker Eran Zahavi, who pays for the Chinese side Guangzhou. Despite having lost the last four away Euro qualifiers, the 32-year-old Zahavi has scored 11 goals in 10 qualifying games and has scored against Scotland at the team’s last meeting at Hampden.

Keeping Zahavi contained and shut out of the match is going to be one of the primary goals of the Scottish team and one of the players who could find themselves facing off against the Israeli striker is Greg Taylor.

Despite being dropped by Ranger for being “too small and too slight,” Taylor has more than proved he has what it takes to challenge the largest forwards in Scottish football. While his time at Celtic has been limited, he only joined on 2 September 2019 after all, Taylor has already proved himself while playing on the national team.

Having debuted at right-back for Scotland during the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying fixtures in June 2019, Taylor replaced captain Andy Robertson during a hard-fought match against the world’s top-ranked team, Belgium.

While Scotland might have lost that match, Taylor went on to play in Scotland’s victories over Kazakhstan and Cyprus and was singled out for praise in those performances, especially his ability to link up with his Celtic teammate, James Forrest.

Ryan Christie

Playmaker Ryan Christie has played a big part in getting Celtic closer to their dream of winning an unprecedented quadruple treble by scoring the only goal in their recent win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

Christie is perhaps best known for the gruesome facial injury he suffered in the clash between Celtic and Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final last season. However, his teammates and the Celtic fans also know him as a dedicated playmaker who is also more than capable of scoring, currently sitting in second place as one of Celtic’s top scorers this season, with only Odsonne Edouard netting a higher tally.

Both before and after his horrific facial injury, Ryan Christie has stood out as one of Celtic’s best midfield players and if he could bring the same skill set to the Scottish team, potentially with Celtic players both in front and behind him, he could make a real difference to Scotland Euro 2020 ambitions.