Wednesday night was certainly a mixed one for Aston Villa’s midfield maestros.
While Jack Grealish was twiddling his thumbs on the bench as Gareth Southgate’s England laboured to the most miserable of home defeats, John McGinn captained an increasingly impressive Scotland side to an eye-catching 1-0 triumph over the Czech Republic.
In the absence of Andy Robertson, Villa’s pocket rocket took the armband and delivered a performance full of not only passion and pride but also skill, vision and the sort of defence-splitting passes that have breathed his ‘McGinniesta’ moniker into existence.
Not only did the former Hibernian star produce a sublime through ball that Iniesta himself would have been proud of – one Ryan Fraser squandered – his heroic goal-line clearance prevented a brilliant win from becoming a creditable draw.
But perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid to a suddenly well-drilled and streetwise Scotland side is McGinn was hardly the only contender for the man of the match award.
Fraser scored the winner and could have had a hat-trick. Declan Gallagher, Scott McTominay and Andrew Considine were like a human Hadrian’s Wall at the other end and, while in Lyndon Dykes, Clarke appears to have solved his ‘number nine’ problem.
But McGinn was fully deserving of his moment in the limelight.
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