LIVERPOOL DEFENDER ANDY Robertson has defended his decision to pull out of Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Cyprus and Kazakhstan by stating he has long-term concerns over an ankle problem.
The left-back, who was named in the Goal 50 this week, gave a key assist to Mohamed Salah as the Reds defeated Manchester City 3-1 on Sunday to extend their lead at the summit of the Premier League but will not be present for Steve Clarke’s men as they complete their schedule for the year.
The 25-year-old national team captain has revealed that he has been playing through injury in recent weeks and barely completing any training.
“It’s a big disappointment for me to miss out,” said Robertson. “I don’t care what game it is, I want to play and my track record in the last five years has shown that.
“But for the last two and a half weeks, I’ve not trained at all for Liverpool. I’ve trained the day before a game, could only play the last 15 minutes against Genk in the Champions League and missed the Arsenal game in the League Cup.
“It’s a niggling injury which won’t go away unless I give it time. My ankle was already injured when a tackle from Rodri on me late in the game against Manchester City on Sunday opened it up again.
“I was already a doubt for Scotland but unfortunately that made it even worse. I don’t want to pick up more injuries and ruin my season because of it. The call has been made and it has been taken out of my hands. It hurts as captain to miss out. I know a lot has been said about these two games being meaningless but we don’t believe that.”
Scotland have once again been hit with a raft of call offs for the forthcoming matches, with Manchester United’s Scott McTominay and Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser, who has recently been linked with a January move to Anfield, among those to have dropped out of the squad, while Arsenal requested that Kieran Tierney be given more time to build his fitness.
Derby’s Graeme Shinnie, Celtic’s Lewis Morgan and Hibs defender Ryan Porteous have been called into the squad in his absence.
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