20 November 2020

Ryan Jack relishing prospect of Rangers title party after Euro bliss in Belgrade

20 November 2020

Ryan Jack relished Scotland’s party in Belgrade and hopes he will next be celebrating on home soil with Rangers

The Ibrox midfielder played a key role as Steve Clarke’s men booked a slot at Euro 2020 with victory over Serbia last week and he partied into the early hours with the rest of his jubilant team-mates.

Jack missed out on it being a double triumph as the Scots failed to get the win from their final two Nations League fixtures which would have all but guaranteed a place in the play-offs for the World Cup in 2022.

Clarke’s side still have to take the long road to Qatar, with the traditional qualifying route kicking off next March, but before that Jack has club duty to focus on and he would love nothing better than to sample another wild night of joy at Ibrox by helping Steven Gerrard’s team secure title number 55.

The midfielder, who will face former side Aberdeen on Sunday as Rangers look to maintain their nine-point Premiership lead, said: “It was a great night last week. We were away from home, against a top side. Maybe a lot of people had written us off and made us underdogs.

“But we stuck to what we believed in and got the result. We got there the hard way but in the end we’ve qualified and the feeling I got then… as a player you want to have that as many times as you can throughout your career.

“It was a very special night so going forward I’ve got more of those feelings to come.”

Hampden will now play host to two huge clashes against the Czech Republic and Croatia next summer but it is the June 18 date with England at Wembley that is really whetting the Tartan Army’s appetite.

Jack said: “As players we obviously knew what the draw was and that we’d play Croatia, the Czech Republic and England if we qualified.

“That was there for us, knowing if we could get the nation to a major tournament then we’d be playing England at Wembley.

“We’re praying we can have supporters back in time for that game and Hampden full for the other two matches as well.

“It’s a mouth-watering tie and one as a player that’s to be looked forward to.

“But for now we just have to put it in the cupboard and wait for it to come around because at club level we have a big few months ahead and then next March we’re going to have the start of the World Cup qualifiers, which will be another huge challenge.

“My Wembley memories of Scotland are probably more the recent ones.

“I remember Kenny Miller scoring in the 3-2 game back in 2013 and that’s probably my most recent memory of the games at Wembley.

“But we all saw how big a game it was for the country with the amount of supporters who will travel down to London and get right behind us.

“We know it will be a massive occasion and we’ll look forward to it when it comes round.”

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