There are two sporting fixtures that I never miss...England v. Scotland in the Six Nations and the same fixture in football. I think it must be a throwback to the years when I had two Scottish editors because I approach these games with the same passion as my friends and colleagues north of the border. For me they are must win matches and no excuses.
I always say that as long as England beat Scotland I don´t care about the final outcome of the tournament! Last February I watched in horror as a dominant Scotland beat England 11-6 to record their first victory at Twickenham in 38 years in the Six Nations. I kept a low profile for the rest of the month because my Spanish colleagues are abit like Andy Murray, they support Spain and any team which is playing England! So I was quietly confident that England would get their revenge at Wembley on Friday night.
I chuckled to myself when I saw that Channel 5 would be showing Braveheart to coincide with the match. I was quietly confident that I would watch the end of the Mel Gibson epic after the final whistle once the Three Lions had roared to victory. But no. I spent 90 minutes watching in horror at England and in admiration of Scotland who were the better team on the night and who should have walked away with three points. Scotland played with passion, just like they had done at Twickenham.
England had a bad night and it joins a long list of “Bad Nights” for England soccer. Perhaps Gareth Southgate, the England manager who famously missed a penalty which sent England packing from Euro 96, will now make another pizza TV advert like he did in 1996, because this was a very cheesy performance by his team! I say this with a heavy heart but well done Scotland, even if you are knocked out in the next game, you can say that you outplayed England at Wembley....and Twickenham.