SCOTLAND star Johnny Russell has hailed Ryan Christie – and revealed Alex McLeish told John McGinn to stop using his BUM to hold off players.
The former Dundee United man raved about his team-mates to Open Goal star Si Ferry on this week’s Keeping The Ball On The Ground podcast.
He revealed in-form Celtic idol Christie was consistently the most impressive player in Scotland training before lifting the lid on Eck’s unusual advice to the Aston Villa midfielder, nicknamed Meatball.
Ex-Celtic starlet Ferry asked Russell: “Who’s the one player every day in training you think wow? Who impresses you the most?”
The Sporting Kansas City star replied: “Probably Christie, he’s always on it to be fair.
“Don’t get me wrong there are brilliant players throughout.
“But it’s the wee things…it’s everything we do – we short, sharp things…boxes.
“It’s his game so he always stands out.
“The transformation he’s had in the last two years has been ridiculous. He’s been brilliant.
“McGinn is probably our best player in the games and miles off it in training
“Meatball is miles off it!”
The duo raved about Hibs hero McGinn, who has been outstanding for Villa in the English Premier League this season.
Peterhead midfielder Ferry said: “He just gets that big a**e in!”
Russell then revealed ex-national team gaffer McLeish’s advice to McGinn, who has seven goals from 21 senior caps.
He said: “McLeish was the first one that brought that up.
“He said to him that he needed to stop doing it – ‘You’ll get away with that at Hibs, you’ll not get away with that at international level.’
“He called it ‘the a**e thing!’”
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McGinn, 25, has bagged 10 goals in 22 appearances for club and country this season, with 24-year-old Christie hitting 16 in 33.
Steve Clarke’s Scotland will face England, Croatia and the Czech Republic in their Euro 2020 group IF they qualify.
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Clarke’s men will have to beat Israel followed by the winner of the tie between Norway and Serbia to do so.
Should they qualify, the Scots will kick off their campaign against the Czech Republic at Hampden on June 15.
They would then travel to London to take on England at Wembley on June 19, before finishing the group against Croatia at Hampden on June 23.
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