Max Johnston speaks on his Hearts family, Borussia Dortmund and Champions League as he awaits Scotland chance

Max Johnston doesn’t hide the inner-family rivalry motivating him right now. After winning the Austrian Bundesliga with Sturm Graz for the second year in succession, he reported for Scotland duty high on adrenaline. Now the target is beating his father’s 18 Scotland caps.

Johnston is in Steve Clarke’s squad for friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein over the next week and is seeking to add to his solitary international appearance. The 21-year-old right-back made his Scotland debut away to Greece in the first leg of March’s Nations League play-off. Having waited patiently, and with rival Aaron Hickey not in the squad following long-term injury, these friendlies should represent Johnston’s opportunity.

The old man is driving him on. Allan Johnston spent six years at Hearts as a graduate of their youth system in the 1990s. Famous for a hat-trick against Rangers at Ibrox, his son’s chosen career path has been more varied from Motherwell to Graz via Queen of the South and Cove Rangers. Johnston Jnr doesn’t hide his desire to surpass the man who signed him on loan at Queens.

“Yeah, definitely. I think he only won one league title in his career as well, so I've already beaten him on that one,” smiled Max. “Getting more caps is definitely something I want to do. I think he got three flights to get over [to Greece] just for the game for my debut, so I'm very grateful that I've got him on my side and I'm just lucky that he got to see it.”

Getting the better of Dad in every metric is high on the agenda. “Definitely, you need to get the bragging rights, don't you,” smirked Johnston. “Obviously, my Dad had a time in France [with Rennes] as well when he moved on from Hearts and I think he was a similar age. He was a wee bit older. I was lucky enough that I got to ask him for a bit of advice on how he managed to deal with moving abroad and stuff. He's been a really big help and he really pushed me to do it.

“He was telling me that sometimes you just need to take a chance. There's always going to be competition no matter what club or where you play your football. There's always going to be competition, but sometimes you just need to be brave enough to take that step and work your way into the team. I think that's what I've done.

“I think I was just more excited that I had the opportunity to go out and try something different. You see how well the other boys over in Italy had done at that time. They had a lot of success, so for me it was a great opportunity. It's a reality shock when you know you're not going to have dinners made for you and that when you're coming home from training,” he joked. “But no, it's something that I've really enjoyed.”

Champions League football against teams from France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany

Playing Champions League ties at venues like Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion more than justify the decision to try something different. Johnston also faced Brest, Club Brugge, Sporting Lisbon and Lille in Europe’s most prestigious club tournament. The experiences at a relatively young age should help him in a Scotland context.

“Yeah, definitely. Of course, as a player you want to be involved in the Champions League,” he said. “That's the stage you want to be playing on. I'm extremely grateful that I got to experience that this year and definitely as a club we'll be looking to do that again this year.

“These are the experiences and the games you want to be playing in and the ones you want to learn from. I think, as a player, you need to play in these games and learn new experiences and little things you need to work on. I definitely think it will do me the world of good. I really enjoy Austria. I think it's been great for me. I'm contracted for another two years over there and I'm really enjoying it. Obviously, as a player, there's a level I want to reach, so we'll see what happens.

“The club's been really good to me since I went over. They really helped me out, helped me settle in when I first got over. It's good, we've got a good changing room as well, so the boys are quite close and we spend a lot of time together. With the fans, it's amazing. With the experience of winning the double last year and winning the league this year, you just see how much it means to the fans and the city is amazing to be fair.

“This year, we had a big stage just outside the stadium and we just went to see the fans for a bit, but it was amazing. One I'll never forget. I don't know how many fans were there, but it was a lot of people. Obviously, Austria is a bit nicer than here with the weather, so you can enjoy outside of the city a wee bit more. Apart from training, I've just been doing my German lessons and that's about it to be fair.”

He isn’t keen to delve into the language work. “Don't ask, you don't want to know,” he said. He can lean on former Hearts midfielder Andy Irving, a fluent German speaker after playing in Germany and Austria for three years in total before moving to West Ham United. Both are in the current Scotland squad.

“When Andy was in Austria, I spoke to him a few times and we'd played against each other a few times,” said Johnston. “It's great to see how well he's done since he's moved on to West Ham. I think he's a wee bit better than me [at German] to be fair! We've got people that come into the club and then I was doing some online courses by myself, but I'm not doing them any more. I'm not going to lie.”

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