Nations League: Scotland keep hopes alive, Croatia and Denmark through to quarter-finals

Robertson's late goal secures win over Poland and earns Scots a relegation play-off

Scotland's Andy Robertson, second right, celebrates after scoring the winner in the Nations League match against Poland in Warsaw. EPA

Scotland scraped through to a relegation play-off in the Uefa nations League after a last-gasp goal by Andrew Robertson secured a 2-1 away win over Poland.

John McGinn put Scotland in front after three minutes before Poland's Kamil Piatkowski levelled with a stunning strike just before the hour. Robertson sealed the victory in stoppage time with a header that bounced in off the inside of the post.

Scotland, playing in the competition's top tier for the first time, finished third on seven points, three above last-placed Poland, who had never dropped out of League A since the competition was launched in 2018 and are now consigned to the second-tier League B.

The Scots got off to a flying start when McGinn, who had secured a late victory against Croatia last time out, gave them an early lead with a low strike inside the left corner.

Ben Doak received the ball on the edge of the area and teed up the midfielder, who struck the ball home first time.

Poland reacted instantly and Piatkowski forced Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon into a diving save to deny him from distance before Karol Swiderski found the side netting.

With Swiderski and Adam Buksa up front for the hosts in the absence of star scorer Robert Lewandowski, Poland doubled their efforts and Swiderski had another chance but was denied by Gordon minutes later.

The opportunities kept coming for both sides and Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay should have doubled the lead for Scotland before the break but hit the woodwork.

Poland equalised in the 59th minute through Piatkowski after Piotr Zielinski teed up the defender who cut across the ball to fire into the far top corner for his first international goal.

Scotland find out their next opponents in Friday's draw, with a two-legged League A/B play-off tie on March 20 and 23.

Robertson's header was a fitting end to a campaign which eventually got going after Scotland suffered late blows in three narrow defeats. Steve Clarke's men also won late against Croatia as they earned seven points from their final three games.

The Liverpool left-back said of his goal: "It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. To do it so late on and it means something, now we get the play-off in March, it's very important and I think it was what the performance deserved.

"I don't think anyone can argue that. I thought we dominated. I thought we played well.

"We got done by an unbelievable goal from their perspective. But I think our performance deserved the win and I'm just happy to step up at the last minute to make sure that the lads got what we deserved."

Robertson feels the late goal was no one-off, saying: "I think we've proved that over the years now. I think under this manager, I think we've done really well at keeping going."

Croatia enter quarter-finals

Josko Gvardiol continued his scoring streak to earn Croatia a 1-1 home draw with Portugal on Monday that allowed them to sneak into the Nations League quarter-finals.

Portugal had already sealed top spot in Group A1. The draw allowed Croatia to finish one point above Scotland.

In Split, Portugal took a 33rd-minute lead when Joao Felix neatly finished a sharp counterattack. Rafael Leao then missed the target when clean through.

Gvardiol, ghosting at the far post, had a header on 62 minutes disallowed for offside. He repeated the move three minutes later, sneaking in unmarked and onside to squeeze a close-range shot through Jose Sa. Defender Gvardiol had three goals in his last six Premier League games for Manchester City before the international break.

"It felt like two different games for us," said Gvardiol. "In the first half, we seemed a bit tired and needed to make changes. The second half was much better – we had more energy, better control of the ball, and created more chances and we managed to score a goal."

Croatia and Denmark thus completed the Nations League quarter-finals lineup.

Denmark drew 0-0 in Serbia to join Croatia in the next stage. They joined France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands in the last eight.

Northern Ireland will step up to League B after topping their group. Northern Ireland let slip a two-goal lead but drew in Luxembourg 2-2. Romania hammered Cyprus 4-1.

San Marino will jump into Group C after beating Lichtenstein 3-1.

A late penalty from Bryan Zaragoza secured Spain a 3-2 win over Switzerland in their final Nations League Group A4 game on Monday, with the Spaniards guaranteed top spot before kick off and the Swiss already confirmed as relegated.