Scotland came from behind twice to draw with Austria 2-2 after Aston Villa star John McGinn scored a bicycle kick in the dying embers.
Sasa Kalajdzic put the visitors ahead on two occasions but Grant Hanley pulled Scotland back level against the run of play first. Aston Villa star McGinn’s sensational overhead kick then sealed a point for Steve Clarke’s side in Scotland’s opening World Cup 2022 qualification Group F match.
Franco Roda’s side were buoyed by their Bundesliga stars, nine of which started, who were allowed to travel for this match after the easing of German travel restrictions. It made a difference as Austria controlled large parts of the Hampden affair, Christoph Baumgartner testing David Marshall.
While the nation is still on a high ahead of a return to tournament football at Euro 2020, Scotland needed a positive result in this to maintain any momentum after defeats to Slovakia and Israel in the last two matches. But Austria were dominant and looked the likelier to score.
That wasn’t without Scotland providing a few scares though. Playing out from the back was posing Austria problems of their own doing and one almost lead to Scotland scoring the opening goal, Ryan Christie unable to convert from 10 yards.
Eventually Roda’s side did score. Florian Grillitsch slammed a shot towards Marshall, only able to push it into the path of Kalajdzic, who was on hand to score a tap-in 10 minutes after the interval. It seemed to be the wake-up call Scotland needed.
Clarke’s side seemed more directed going forward but opposing keeper Alexander Schlager gave them a huge hand in getting level 17 minutes from time. He was hesitant to collect Stephen O’Donnell’s cross, allowing Hanley to rise and power home.
Just when it looked like Scotland were getting back into things, striker Che Adams introduced for his debut from the bench, Austria struck again. Stefan Lainer whipped in a cross for Kalajdzic, who did excellently to guide a header from 12 yards out past Marshall.
Scotland always seem to find a way to do things the hard way and this looked like it again. With this Scotland team though, you don’t put salvaging things past them like you would with previous Scot sides. But this seemed too much.
Step forward Aston Villa battler McGinn with a moment of brilliance. Ryan Christie floated a ball into the box, which McGinn turned and proceeded to bicycle kick into the net with a few minutes remaining.
A topsy-turvy second half opened up for Scotland and eventually Clarke’s side took a point from their opening match World Cup 2022 qualifier, now facing Israel for the sixth time since 2018 on Sunday.
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