McTominay's three midfield role models including Roy Keane and fierce rival

11 October 2023 , 12:07

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McTominay's three midfield role models including Roy Keane and fierce rival

Scott McTominay is a huge fan of Roy Keane but also admires Patrick Vieira - the former Manchester United captain's great foe.

All eyes will be on McTominay on Thursday evening, as Scotland take on Spain in a crucial Euro 2024 qualifier. Steve Clarke's side will book their spot at the tournament in Germany if they avoid defeat to the Nations League champions in Seville.

McTominay has played a crucial role in Scotland's qualification campaign, having scored six goals. Only Romelu Lukaku has scored more (eight for Belgium).

Scotland fans are hoping McTominay will do the business again versus Spain, with the midfielder also bagging a late brace in United's 2-1 win against Brentford last Saturday. He will look to take inspiration from his three big idols - Keane, Viera and Zinedine Zidane.

McTominay discussed his heroes during an interview with United's media team in 2020 - when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the manager. He said: "For myself, someone who’s quite strong and a good runner, I should be testing teams more than I do.

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"I should be breaking lines similar to what Paul (Pogba) does, drive into the box and create chances. We always have to have that balance of one goes and one sits, which is so important for a midfield player - being box-to-box.

"There’s some amazing examples: Zidane, Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane, driving through the middle of the pitch and were exceptionally good at it. For me it’s important to keep watching clips like that, I get the guys to send them over as much as they can to analyse it."

Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira were fierce rivals during their playing days (Getty Images)

Do you think Scott McTominay will become one of Manchester United's most important midfielders? Let us know in the comments below!

McTominay knows what it's like to score against Spain after a bagging a brace in Scotland's 2-0 win at Hampden Park in March. Kieran Tierney, who will miss the game through injury, has urged his Scotland team-mates to give their all on Thursday evening.

"We believe we can go out there and do our best," Tierney told BBC Sport. "I think you need to. What's the point in going into a game believing you've got no chance?

"It'll be a tough game, there's no doubt about it. (We're facing) a world class team, away from home and they need to keep winning to go through and everyone wants to top the group so it's a game both teams want to do really well in."

Spain are the favourites to win in Seville and Tierney has admitted "nobody fancies us in except for the Scotland fans are the people in the changing room". Scotland's last away victory against Spain was in June 1963, when they won 6-2 in Madrid.

Tom Blow