Robertson eyes Dalglish's Scotland cap record
Nations League play-offs: Greece v ScotlandVenue: Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus Date: Thursday, 20 March Time: 19:45 GMTCoverage: Watch on BBC One Scotland & iPlayer; listen on BBC Radio Scotland & Sounds; live text coverage & in-play clips on the BBC Sport website & app
Not only has Andy Robertson given no consideration to international retirement, but the Scotland captain has also been teasing Sir Kenny Dalglish that he is chasing down his caps record.The Liverpool left-back, 31, will move third in the all-time list should he make his 81st appearance in the first leg of the Nations League play-off in Greece on Thursday - live on BBC Scotland.Leading out the national team for that game will take him past Darren Fletcher, leaving just Jim Leighton (91) and Dalglish (102) ahead of him."I actually said to Kenny the other week, 'I'm coming for you'," Robertson told BBC Scotland of the Liverpool legend. "His reply was plenty of players have said that before and he's still the main man."Robertson made his Scotland debut under Gordon Strachan in 2014 while at Dundee United and was first made captain by Alex McLeish four years later."I love playing for Scotland, showing up for every camp, and I want to get as many caps as I can," he said. "Wherever that takes me, it takes me. I'm incredibly proud to get to 80."You just deal with what's in front of you. There's so much going on, you can't look too far ahead."You need a bit of luck with injuries but I do everything I can to make sure I'm in the best possible shape for Liverpool and Scotland."
Robertson's fourth international goal came in stoppage-time against Poland in November, earning a 2-1 victory in Warsaw to clinch third place in Nations League Group A1.Now Scotland must prevail against Greece to remain in the tournament's top tier.According to the captain, the team made "huge strides" in their debut Group A campaign, amassing seven points from the final three games after losing the first three."The Nations League has been important for us and the aim was always to get to Group A," said Robertson. "We then saw the rewards when we held our own against Portugal and Croatia."There was a lot of negativity after the Euros and rightly so. We believed we could get out of the group and we didn't perform to the levels we know we can. "There was a lot of talk around 'is this the end for this squad?' But I think we have bounced back really well."Greece finished runners-up behind England on goal difference in their B-level group and, at 39th, are six places above Scotland in the world rankings."They're a really good team at home and don't concede many goals," said Robertson. "It will be difficult but we believe we can given anyone a game."Having not faced Greece since the road to Euro 96, Scotland will meet them again later this year in World Cup qualifying.Belarus and the defeated side in the Nations League quarter-final between Portugal and Denmark are the other opponents, with matches beginning in September and concluding in November.Scotland have not been at the World Cup since 1998, when Robertson was aged four.He said: "You look at the group and think 'can we compete?' Yes, that's a definite, but it's going to be tough."Hopefully, we have everyone fit and we can give it a right good shot. Playing at a World Cup would be the ultimate."
Robertson was promoting the Chase Football Programme, which is helping people from low-income backgrounds get into coaching by fully funding their qualifications, after being reunited with former Queen's Park coach David McCallum.
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