Scotland have missed out on qualification for the 2018 World Cup.
Pundit Joey Barton has told talkSPORT that he thinks Celtic would defeat Scotland if the two teams faced off.
Scotland went into the international break knowing they needed two wins to reach the World Cup in Russia next summer, and they got the first part of that with a 1-0 win over Slovakia on Thursday night, thanks to Martin Skrtel’s own goal at Hampden Park.
Gordon Strachan took his side to Ljubljana on Sunday evening to take on Slovenia, knowing that a win would send them to Russia – but they couldn’t get the win they needed.
Line up of Scotland team prior to facing Slovenia
Leigh Griffiths’ opener for Scotland was cancelled out by two goals from Slovenian substitute Roman Bezjak, and whilst Robert Snodgrass found a late equaliser, Scotland couldn’t find the winner they needed.
The long wait for Scotland to return to a major tournament goes on into its 20th year, and their next opportunity will come with the qualifiers for the 2020 European Championships.
Scottish football does appear to be on the up though, and the impact of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic appears to be on show, as he has helped the likes of Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Scott Brown, Callum McGregor, Stuart Armstrong, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths become parts of the Scotland squad.
Now, pundit Joey Barton has discussed club versus international football with talkSPORT, and suggested that Celtic would beat Scotland if it was possible for the two sides to meet.
“The Champions League winners would beat the World Cup winners,” said Barton. “Also, the champions in most countries – the strong countries, certainly – would beat the national side. Chelsea would beat England, Celtic would beat Scotland. I think Real Madrid would beat Spain, that’s a good one. Juventus would beat Italy.”
“Outside of the top 16 countries in the world, the drop off in ability is like going off a cliff face. I don’t think it’s that strong. The winners of the Champions League would beat the side that won the World Cup in the same year. Real Madrid would have beaten Germany [in 2014],” he added.
Of course, with so many Celtic players in the Scotland squad, the sides are somewhat similar, but the additions of players like Mikael Lustig, Dedryck Boyata, Erik Sviatchenko, Tom Rogic, Patrick Roberts, Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele clearly has Barton believing that Celtic are stronger than Scotland.
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