Scotland v Switzerland

Football writer Alan Pattullo’s joins us from a wet Cologne ahead of Scotland v Switzerland.

Transcript

00:00And so this behind me is the recently re-branded Cologne Stadium, the Rhein Energie Stadium

00:13normally it's called before UEFA get their hands on it, de-branded now of course.

00:20It's a famous venue, it's built on a site where I believe some Scottish teams have come

00:29to grief, Rangers 5-0, Dundee 4-0 although interestingly Dundee are FC Cologne's nemeses

00:43having beaten them 8-1 in the first leg at Dens on that occasion in 1962 and then again

00:49in 1971 beating them at Dens 4-2 having lost 2-1 behind me here although the stadium looked

00:56a lot different then. Interesting history here for Scottish football teams, obviously

01:02tomorrow night it's going to be another momentous occasion, whether it's going to be a successful

01:10one or not you can tell, Scotland v Switzerland. What a game, what a huge game, Steve Clarke

01:18will be hosting a press conference here in about an hour or so this time, the Scotland

01:25squad flew up from Munich to Cologne this afternoon having travelled to Munich from

01:33their base in Garmisch Gartenkirchen and yeah they get one, UEFA try and encourage just

01:42one flight per round so per group section so this is the one Scotland have decided to

01:48travel by plane for, it's a long long way, four and a half hours in a train from Munich

01:54to Cologne which me and a group of Scottish journalists did that journey this afternoon

02:02arriving here in Cologne as you can see or perhaps can even hear a very quite wet muggy

02:08climate, a lot of Scotland fans already amassing in the centre of town, I noticed I just got

02:15a tram out here from the centre, it's about a 20 minute journey out to the outskirts of

02:21Cologne although it's a very big city, fourth largest in Germany and yeah we'll see what

02:27Steve Clarke's got to say in a little while, fascinating, fascinating selection for him

02:35coming up, a lot of people obviously wanted to see Billy Gilmour's return to the midfield

02:39but wonder whether Grant Hanley will start having come on at half time against Germany

02:46last Friday, obviously so much rest in this match, it's a win or draw or bust for Scotland,

02:53keep following on Scotsman.com, I'm Alan Patalo the writer for the Scotsman, here in Cologne

03:0024 hours or so before what really is a huge game, possibly the most consequential game

03:09Scotland have played since Morocco and France 98 26 years ago, a game I was at as a fan I recall

03:20although yeah it isn't a game I've thought about too much since, tried to forget it, let's hope

03:26tomorrow night is a better night.