Inside football’s oldest rivalry as England and Scotland clash TONIGHT 25 years on from THAT Euro 96 Gazza wonder goal
ENGLAND are just hours away from the latest instalment of the Battle of Britain.
Gareth Southgate will lead his troops into a huge Euro 2020 Group D clash against their oldest enemy Scotland at Wembley.
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Thousands of Scots have descended on London hoping to cheer the Tartan Army on to what would be a shock win.
Scotland have been allocated less than 3,000 tickets for the sellout 21,500 qualifier at Wembley.
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But between 6,000 and 20,000 Scottish supporters are reportedly making the trip across the border.
The clash will evoke some great memories for England.
It is 25 years since football legend Paul Gascoigne scored an absolute screamer at Euro 1996 as England defeated the Auld Enemy 2-0.
Jose Mourinho told us he remembers it well – it was his first ever visit to Wembley.
The Special One said: “I was totally shocked, in a good sense, with the passion and the atmosphere of a full house at this stunning stadium.”
And Gazza has relived the magic moment for us, saying: “The whole of Wembley just erupted. It was pure joy. No words can describe that feeling.”
Wembley historically hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Scotland – with England beating the Auld Enemy 18 times in 32 games at the stadium.
The last time the two teams met at Wembley saw Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill steering England to a 3-0 win for the World Cup qualifier in 2016.
It’s not always gone England’s way though.
Back in 1977, Scotland pulled off a famous 2-1 win, and overjoyed fans ran on the Wembley pitch to celebrate – and broke the bar when too many all jumped on the goal.
Who’s the favourite?
Unsurprisingly, England are the heavy favourites heading into the Group D clash.
Home advantage at Wembley is one of the reasons for this. But England are 38 places higher than the Scots at fourth in the official world rankings.
Paddy Power has England at 2-7 for the win, Scotland at 9-1 with the draw 4-1.
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How did their first games go?
England won an European Championship game for the first time EVER thanks to Raheem Sterling’s strike against Croatia.
Steve Clarke’s Scotland may have had home advantage, but they put in a toothless performance to lose 2-0 to Czech Republic, which included an astonishing 55-yard wonder goal from Patrik Schick.
What’s the head-to-head like?
The pair met for the first time in 1872 – for what is now recognised as the fist ever international football match.
Despite England seen as the heavyweight of the two, the head-to-head makes interesting reading.
The Three Lions have won 48 of the 114 games played between the two in all competitions.
Scotland have triumphed in 41, with 25 draws.
What TV channel is it on?
According to a study, 53 per cent of English and Scottish residents will tune in to the big game.
ITV have bagged TV rights for this game, which will be show free on terrestrial and the ITV Hub.
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What was this ‘Gazza goal’ all about?
At the 1996 European Championships England and Scotland were placed in the same group, alongside Holland and Switzerland.
Terry Venables’ side were 1-0 up and had just seen David Seaman save a penalty, when superstar Paul Gascoigne conjured up a stunning moment of magic.
He lobbed the ball over Scotland centre-half Colin Hendry and volleyed the ball past Andy Goram for one of the best goals ever scored at a European Championships.
England won 2-0 and went on to be knocked out in the semi-finals – losing to Germany in a shootout when current boss Gareth Southgate saw his penalty saved.
Scholes haunts Scots
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes scored twice in a Euro 2000 qualifier that saw England sneak past Scotland in 1999.
His two goals helped Kevin Keegan’s Three Lions win 2-0 at Hampden Park. They lost the second leg 1-0 at Wembley to scrape into the tournament.
Where are the fan parks?
There will be fan zones in TRAFALGAR SQUARE and FOOTBALL VILLAGE IN POTTERS FIELDS PARK in London.
The Trafalgar Square site will be showing all England games – so the 20,000 Scots who have made the trip down might fancy rocking up here.
But it is ticketed – so without one you could struggle to see every kick from the clash.
GLASGOW has a fan zone that can take 6,000 people all seated with social distancing.
If you can’t make it, SunSport will be live blogging the game.
We’ll make sure you won’t miss a thing from the tasty affair.
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