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Man City star and Spain international Rodri is looking forward to a midfield battle with Aston Villa’s John McGinn when Scotland take on the former European champions at Hampden Park on Tuesday night.

Rodri is also likely to face Manchester United’s Scott McTominay, who scored twice in Scotland’s 3-0 win over Cyprus last time out, after McGinn put them ahead in the first half. Victory gave Scotland the perfect start to their EURO 2024 qualifying campaign, but Spain will pose other problems for Steve Clarke’s side tonight (19:45).

Rodri, who helped Spain win 3-0 at home to Norway on Saturday night, spoke about the challenge of facing McTominay and McGinn, saying: “I know them very well, of course. They are good players with a lot of physique to go box to box.

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“I think they are of great importance for the national team and of course they have experience of playing big games in the Premier League, against us for example. With Scott, it’s a great rivalry, of course, in the Manchester derby. They are good players, like us too.

“We don’t focus too much on the individual players, we focus more on the things they do collectively. But for sure, I know the players Scotland have. They have very good players, some big names and a good team.”

“We are aware of that, but we try to focus on ourselves to put in a good performance against one of the best teams in the group. Tomorrow is going to be an important match. If we can win tomorrow, we will have taken six points from the two best teams in the group, Scotland and Norway, so it will be a very difficult game.”

He added: “Scotland is a very strong rival. They have a good team that has evolved over the years. From my experience, no game is an easy game. Any of the smaller nations, or the so-called smaller nations, can pose a threat.

“At international level, all the teams are going to give it their all, so we have to give our best in every game. We respect our opponents. We know Norway and we know Scotland. So like I say, we go into every game respecting our opponents. Scotland is a very intense team. They are very aggressive, very dynamic and can play with a lot of pressure.

“They have individuals in the best teams in the Premier League, so they are able to compete at the highest level and at an international level. I don’t like to talk about individuals. I think the whole team has quality.

“There are some top players like Liverpool and Arsenal, but they are all at a good level. Any of these players could be decisive in the match. I prefer to talk about the team as a whole and the most important thing is the teamwork and the balance that comes from their squad as a whole.”

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