Luxembourg v Scotland: Scots to sign off with a win before embarking on their Euro 2020 adventure

Luxembourg v Scotland
Sunday, 17:00
Live on Sky Sports

Finishing touches

Scotland face their second and final friendly match before heading into this summer's Euro 2020 championship. They play Luxembourg in a friendly match on Sunday evening, eight days before facing the Czech Republic at Hampden.

It's an important summer for the Tartan Army, and there's excitement in the camp as they prepare to play in their first major international tournament since France 98. Manager Steve Clarke will demand his troops keep their focus on this match, however, and with slots in the starting 11 against Czech still up for grabs, a strong performance is expected.

Luxembourg eager to provide a test

It's no real surprise to learn Luxembourg won't be playing a part in Euro 2020, but they'll enjoy helping their opponents prepare. Players will want to test themselves against a qualifying team with the coaching staff using this friendly as an opportunity to check how far they are off the pace. Luxembourg will aim to be competitive, difficult to beat and a worthwhile workout for Scotland.

They did claim back-to-back wins late last year when beating Montenegro and Cyprus in the Nations League, scoring four goals in the process. Since recording an impressive 2-0 home win over Cyprus, Luxembourg have lost to Lichtenstein and Montenegro before bouncing back to edge Azerbaijan 2-1 away from home in September.

Scotland likely to rotate

Following a midweek game against the Netherlands that ended 2-2, Scotland return to action, and Clarke will likely rotate his squad. The manager will be keen to get extra minutes into his players' legs before returning to the training field for a week to prepare for their opening group match. This is likely to be much more typical of a friendly than we saw in the game against the Netherlands just four days ago.

Everyone inside the Scotland camp will want to sign off with a win, but the performance is more important. Keeping sharp, avoiding injury, working on tactics, trying to catch the manager's eye. There's much more to this game for Scotland than the final score. Every player given a chance to shine must take it if they want to feature at Hampden next week.

The pressure's on to perform

The pre-match betting holds no surprises, but there's a little more value around than there would be if this were a competitive match. Luxembourg have nothing to lose here and can enjoy the occasion. They are available at odds of 5.79/2 on the Betfair Exchange to win.

All the pressure is on the away team, who must impress without putting themselves at risk of injury or fatigue. Scotland are priced at 1.654/6 to sign off with a victory, or you can get the draw at a decent 3.613/5.

Scotland lead the head-to-head

The only previous meeting between Luxembourg and Scotland came in 2012 when Scotland edged a competitive friendly match with a 2-1 final score. The goals that day were scored by Jordan Rhodes, who netted a quick-fire double inside 23 minutes. This match is expected to follow a similar pattern.

Both teams to score is 1.875/6 with no in the same market 1.834/5. Under 2.5 goals trades at 1.8910/11 while over 2.5 will net you 2.0421/20. We'll go for Scotland to flex their muscles with another 2-1 win @ 7.87/1.