Update on Hearts' Lawrence Shankland and Liverpool's Andy Robertson after injury scares at Scotland training

SNS Group

Scotland assistant coach John Carver provided an update on captain Andy Robertson and striker Lawrence Shankland after they withdrew from training. Both players walked off the pitch early during the first session at the national team’s Euro 2024 base at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, but Carver insisted those were precautionary measures.

Robertson was attended to by the Scotland physio Stuart Collie, who then accompanied him off the field and into the gym for treatment whilst the open training session continued. He looked in slight discomfort at the time but was later seen chatting and laughing with Scottish FA staff.

“He’s fine. I’ve just spoken to him there. It was a precaution, really,” explained Carver during a post-training media conference. “The ball just caught his ankle but he will train tomorrow. He’ll be fine. Obviously, at this stage, we are going to be extra cautious. He’s okay, he’s fine and looking forward to joining in tomorrow.”

Scotland lost full-backs Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson, plus midfielder Lewis Ferguson and striker Lyndon Dykes to injury before naming their final 26-man squad. “It’s never nice, is it? Especially with the luck we’ve had lately,” said Carver. “As soon as training was finished, I popped across and had a chat with him [Robertson]. He’s in good form, so he’s fine.”

Shankland is nursing a minor issue following Scotland’s pre-tournament friendlies against Gibraltar and Finland. He is one of several players managing their workloads. “He had a little bit of a niggle from the other night [against Finland] and he’s in that process,” said Carver. “Obviously, he played quite a bit of game time in the two games that we played, so we are just protecting him as well. Everybody has got their own programme coming back [from injuries] as you well know, so he’s fine. Everybody is good.”

Stuart Armstrong is expected to resume full training on Tuesday and fellow midfielder Kenny McLean is also due back. “Kenny had a little issue before the game the other night but he will probably train again tomorrow with us, so he’s fine. We are just, like I say, being a little extra cautious,” added Carver.

On Armstrong, the coach added: “He’ll be in with the group full-time tomorrow so that’s good news as well.”