Michael Stewart repeatedly blown away by ‘quite incredible’ Rangers star
Michael Stewart was stunned by the quality of Rangers centre-back John Souttar in two key moments during Scotland’s dramatic 2-1 win over Poland in the Nations League on Monday.
After the Scots had opened the scoring through John McGinn on 18 November, the hosts went close to equalising in the 47th minute after a shot inside the area beat goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
Souttar though, managed to get back to clear the ball off the line with a brilliant block, earning plenty of praise from Stewart.
Speaking about the Rangers man’s intervention while co-commentating on the game, via the Scotland national team on YouTube, the former international said: “John Souttar, what a block that is. That is quite incredible. John Souttar take a bow, top drawer defending there.”
Poland would equalise just before the hour-mark through Kamil Piatkowski, but Steve Clarke’s side snatched a winner in stoppage time.
That came when Andy Robertson headed in Souttar’s cross, which again won praise for the quality of delivery, with Stewart saying: “What a ball from John Souttar. Another outstanding performance from the defender, and what a finish from the captain.”
Rangers defender John Souttar shines for Steve Clarke
Football Insider opinion
That victory over Poland could prove to be a vital one for the Tartan Army over the next few years, although they missed out on automatic promotion from the top-flight of the UEFA Nations League.
They will instead now face a play-off against a second-placed team from the second-tier, and are also now still in contention for a more favourable draw for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. As a result, this could mean a great deal to Scotland.
With Souttar denying a certain Poland goal with his block, and then setting up another to win it, the Gers man had a huge part to play in that.
The Ibrox faithful will no doubt be desperate for him to maintain that excellent form, after some tough moments in his club’s shirt recently.
Indeed, it will be a relief to see Souttar thrived here given other players endured a more difficult international break.
That could mean the centre-back’s performance on Monday may be almost as important for Rangers as it was for Scotland.
In other news, Steven Gerrard’s stance over a potential return to Rangers has been revealed.
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