Former Scotland coach: Mourinho "reminded" me to call for McTominay and we have him to thank

Former Scotland coach McLeish revealed that Mourinho "reminded" him to call McTominay into the Scotland team as soon as possible.

In the final round of World Cup qualifying on Wednesday, Scotland defeated Denmark 4-2 at home and successfully qualified for next year's World Cup. McTominay scored a wonderful overhead kick in the 3rd minute. He has become the core and leader of the Scottish team. McLeish said: "Looking back now, I think all of us Scots should express some gratitude to Mourinho."

Mourinho coached Manchester United from 2016 to 2018, and at that time reused the youth training teenager McTominay. Mourinho expressed dissatisfaction with England coach Southgate's delay in calling up McTominay, who is eligible to play for Scotland because his father is Scottish. In February 2018, McLeish, who was coaching the Scotland team at the time, came to Manchester United to invite McTominay, and McTominay subsequently chose to play for the Scotland team.

McLeish continued: "Mourinho once said in an interview that the England team may miss McTominay, and I should contact him as soon as possible! So I decided to go to the Manchester United training base to interview Mourinho and McTominay. But It happened to be a storm and I almost didn't make it! I didn't arrive in Yorkshire until 3am and I was really wondering if I should go back. The weather was so bad I finally got to the hotel in Manchester but I was so late that the hotel almost thought I wasn't there. I went to check in! It was 4 o'clock in the morning when I arrived at the hotel. I was worried that I wouldn't have a room. Fortunately, the hotel finally found a room for me."

Then McLeish said: "I called Mourinho that morning and said, '12 noon. Come on over, let’s have lunch and talk about McTominay and get him a room.’ And he was very accommodating. I felt like McTominay was interested in making the Scotland team, but I thought it would take a lot of persuasion when he arrived. To represent Scotland. I think he is also very grateful that I went there to meet him. This can be said to be my most valuable trip."

McLeish also talked about McTominay's wonderful overhead kick in this round of World Cup preliminaries, "To do such an overhead kick. It requires special athletic ability and judgment of football position and timing. Danish defender Christensen must have been wondering how McTominay could jump so high in the air."

Finally, McLeish said: "McTominay is already a top player. He is an icon at Napoli and a key player for Scotland and he deserves it. He is a great professional with a great work ethic and a great character. People forget he was a striker when he was young at Manchester United, but the way he scores goals is still amazing. He has become a driving force for Scotland and it is a special moment to see Scotland return to the World Cup."source:7m cn free