It always feels like Scotland go out of their way to mess it up when glory beckons, and it happened again as the gifted Serbia a last minute equaliser in normal time tonight.
They struggled to bounce back in extra time with a limited attacking threat, so it was left to David Marshall be be the hero with a couple of massive moments.
It won’t be talked about because of the penalty shootout, but he came with with a truly astonishing save to deny Gudelj in extra time.
The first nine penalties were scored so it was left to Aleksandar Mitrovic to take it to sudden death, but he missed the decisive kick and that was that…. almost:
Pictures from L’Equipe.
OH MAN pic.twitter.com/eh6Ut7eWJM
— Jim (@Barcajim3) November 12, 2020
There’s a terrifically surreal moment as Marshall looks at the ref to confirm that he hadn’t strayed from his line, and the reality finally starts to sink in as the rest of the team run at him to celebrate.
Serbia tried to protest that he may have been off his line but VAR didn’t pick anything up, and Scotland will finally appear at a major tournament at EURO 2021 (if it goes ahead).
There were some incredibly emotional moments after the game which featured a sobbing Ryan Christie trying to keep himself together as he spoke about what it meant to them all.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the country after watching the outpouring of joy and emotion after the game, so the party tonight will be incredible.
In theory Scotland will need to prepare themselves for another game against Slovakia on Sunday, but nobody cares about that right now.