Ryan Christie's Emotional Interview Shows What Euro 2020 Qualification Means To Scotland

Ryan Christie summed up how it felt to end 22 years of hurt for Scotland, as the national side beat Serbia on penalties to qualify for Euro 2020.

The last time Scotland qualified for an international tournament was at the World Cup in France in 1998, where they opened the tournament against holders Brazil.

On Thursday night they were handed a huge opportunity to end that long spell out of the big time when they faced Serbia in a one off play-off tie.

Christie's goal in the 52nd minute put Steve Clarke's side ahead in Red Star Stadium and when he was subbed off in the 87th minute it looked like it was the winning goal.

Luka Jovic scored in the 90th minute to break Scotland hearts and take the game to extra time. The two sides couldn't be separated so penalties decided the game.

The Scots slotted home all five of their penalties before David Marshall saved Aleksandar Mitrovic's spot kick to send Scotland through. After the game Christie was interviewed on Sky Sports and he cried tears of joy as he talked about what it meant.

Scotland took a complicated, and very new, route to their play-off with Serbia. Clarke's side topped League C Group 1 in the 2018/19 Nations League to get into the play-offs, having finished third in their Euro qualification group.

Due to the complicated process they faced Israel, who they finished above in the Nations League, in the semi-final and drew 0-0, against a side they'd lost to in the previous competition, and won on penalties.

It was clearly good practice on Thursday night as they were once again perfect from the spot, with Leigh Griffiths, Callum McGregor, Scott McTominay, Oli McBurnie and Kenny McLean all scoring, to knock out Serbia who'd beaten Norway in the previous round.

Scotland's joy at qualifying for the Euros will be amplified by the fact they are in the same group as the auld enemy, England, and will face Gareth Southgate's men at Wembley on June 18th, almost exactly 25 years since the two sides met at the same venue at the Euro 96 group stages.

The side's other two games, against Croatia and Czech Republic, will be held at Hampden Park so fans will be hoping that they're let back into stadiums by then.

It wasn't such a good night for the other home nation in qualification action as Northern Ireland lost in extra time to Slovakia.

Elsewhere North Macedonia beat Estonia to qualify and Hungary scored in the 88th and 92nd minutes to overturn a one goal deficit and beat Iceland to make it through.