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Why Callum McGregor loves playing with former Rangers star who 'connects' the game
Callum McGregor looked across the pitch amid the bedlam of the 1-1 draw with Switzerland and felt comfort in his midfield partner being on the same wavelength.
The Celtic skipper enjoys lining up next to Billy Gilmour in a Scotland shirt because he's learned the hard way about the importance of holding onto the football at international level - and there's no pairing that gives the team a better chance of doing just that.
The difference in the RheinEnergieStadion to what went down in the Munich Football Arena just five days earlier in the 5-1 defeat to Germany was stark. The midfield were chasing shadows no more as the twin pivot of Gilmour and McGregor imposed themselves on the game.
The duo were everywhere, setting the tempo with their passing and ensuring whenever Scotland had a rocky spell, confidence was quickly recovered by a period of sharp possession.
It's a pairing that McGregor admits to benefiting form and he's effusive in his praise for the 23-year-old Brighton star.
"Billy was excellent, he said. "When he comes in and gets the ball he gets us playing. I like playing beside him because he will take the ball and we will start to connect the game. At this level you need the ball, you can't just defend for 90 minutes. It's important when you get it, you retain it, you keep the ball and give yourself a breather in the game and we like to be in there together. He was fantastic and a lot of the players out there were excellent tonight. Full credit to them because Friday was difficult.
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"Everyone has come off the pitch and given a good account of themselves. We were much more how we've been in qualifying and given a good account of ourselves. Everybody left the pitch tonight with no regret and maybe on another night you can nick it. The players showed brilliant personality after the other day, a difficult day. You have to be together, come out and be fighting and that's exactly what we did so we arrive at the last game with a big chance to go through."
With Gilmour and McGregor able to take the ball in tight positions, Scotland retained possession with far more assuredness and purpose than against Germany. This was especially true in the second half when Steve Clarke's men were marginally the superior team in a fiercely contested game.
"In international football you have to have the ball," he explained. "The teams look after it so well. When you come to the game there's big energy and everyone is running. You need to be calm with the ball because you can't be flat out for 90 minutes chasing because the teams at this level are too good.
"Sometimes you need to breathe and put a few passes together. That got us to half-time and then we came out second half refreshed and with more energy again and managed to take the game to them. Overall, I thought it was a much better performance - and we can get even better.
"It's football and we understand everyone wants us to do well. When you get a bad result perspective maybe goes out of the window a little bit. When the draw was made, you are targeting the last two games. It was probably the manner of the Germany defeat that made everybody a feel a bit sore. As footballers, we have to deal with that and try and put it right. We made the first step of trying to put it right tonight. We arrive into the game on Sunday with the belief that if we play equally as well, if not better then we give ourselves a right good chance.
"In the next few days everybody will be buzzing. We just need to stay calm and recover. There's two days recovery then plan our way into the game, staying calm, and when we arrive everyone is desperate to make it through. We are the same but we have to bring a level of performance that matches our ambition to go through. We have to do a lot right on Sunday but let's see where we go."
The Scots now enjoy the chance to etch their names in history with a win on Sunday night against the Hungarians. They would be the first national team to reach the knock-out stages of a major tournament after nearly 70 years of trying.
It's easy to look the context of the match and think it should be a straightforward win given Marco Rossi's team are all but certainly eliminated but they've actually looked good for spells and will offer a serious threat, especially from midfield. Having watched the two matches so far with Switzerland and Germany, McGregor is under no illusions about the difficulties ahead.
"Hungary have been good," he said: "The two games have been tight. They are a physical side that can play as well. We have to recover and bring the same energy level, aggression and tempo that we did tonight. And you see that, when you make things uncomfortable for teams they give you the ball back. We need to recover, match that type of energy and see where that takes us."
