Leigh Griffiths: I don’t want free-kicks v England to define my Scotland career

Celtic striker wants to fire Steve Clarke’s side to Euros

Leigh Griffiths puts Scotland 2-1 up against England in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden in 2017

Three years on, the memories of those truly extraordinary final six minutes at Hampden are still as vivid and just as bittersweet in the mind of Leigh Griffiths.

The Celtic striker knows that his place in Scottish football folklore was set in stone on 10 June 2017 when he guided two stunning free-kicks around the English defensive wall and beyond the despairing grasp of Joe Hart.

His first two goals for Scotland, in the 87th and 90th minutes of the World Cup qualifying match, put his country 2-1 up and provided tantalising hope of reaching the 2018 finals.

Of course, the exultant mood inside the national stadium was cruelly dampened by Harry Kane, pictured, and his 93rd-minute equaliser for an England side who would go on to reach the semi-finals in Russia while Scotland, yet again, stayed at home.

That long wait to play in another major tournament finals has been further extended for at least another year by the coronavirus pandemic which has pushed Euro 2020, which should have kicked off this Friday night, back to next summer.

Griffiths would love the opportunity to lead the line for Scotland in the rescheduled play-offs, possibly in October, and attempt to surpass his previous headline-grabbing exploits in a dark blue jersey.

“If I could score a goal that takes us to a Euros, it would eclipse what happened against England three years ago,” said the 29-year-old.

“I’m not suggesting that people would forget about the goals I scored against England, because that was a massive game for us and for the supporters, but I think I’d be remembered for more than just being the guy who scored two free-kicks in that one game.

“That whole day would have been a lot more special to me had we gone on and won the game.

“It was a horrible situation of mixed feelings afterwards. It was good that we got a point from the game, because it was a good one to get and we were behind in the game at one stage.

“But for one moment in stoppage time, we would have won. It was just one of those things, but I don’t want to be that guy who is just remembered for the one game when it comes to Scotland.

“I scored goals after that in the same campaign, against Malta at home and against Slovenia away, and that was another one where we almost qualified. My goal put us 1-0 up in Slovenia but it ended up 2-2. We would have got through to the play-offs had we won that game.”

Griffiths has not played for Scotland since September 2018 when he appeared as a substitute in the 2-0 Nations League win over Albania at Hampden during Alex McLeish’s ultimately unhappy second spell as manager.

Since returning to action with Celtic last year after a seven-month lay-off as he dealt with mental health issues, Griffiths has yet to feature for Scotland under McLesh’s successor Steve Clarke.

His return to goalscoring form with Celtic in the latter stages of the curtailed 2019-20 season put him in contention for a place in the squad for the play-off semi-final against Israel in March before it was postponed by Covid-19.

“I think we have a real chance of getting through the play-offs whenever they are played,” added Griffiths. “At the end of the day, it’s just two games and, if we play well, we have a chance to do something really special.

“You just never know what can happen over the space of just two games. We can win the first game as we have proved that we can beat Israel at Hampden because we did it in the Nations League games to get to this point. It’ll be tough, of course, and anything could happen on the night, but if we could get through that, it’s one game against either Norway or Serbia to reach the finals.

“It’s weird to think that Euros were due to be starting in the next few days. Given everything that has been happening around the world, it’s strange to think that’s how time has moved on.

“But it’s one of those things and, hopefully, once the qualifiers are started again and everyone is back up to speed, we can have a good crack at it.

“I think the attacking options the gaffer is going to have will be frightening, but there are also two major pluses in the fact that we will have John McGinn and Kieran Tierney back when the games come around.

“It didn’t look as if those boys might have been able to play if the games had gone ahead when they were scheduled back in March, so that’s going to be a bonus for the squad to have them back fit. That’s a couple of big assets for us.”

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