Charlie Mulgrew: I helped Celtic humble Barcelona - Scotland can definitely beat England

He was in a team whose chances of getting a result against world-class opponents in a group game they needed to win to progress in the competition they were in had been widely written off when Celtic played Barcelona in the Champions League back in 2012.

But his side duly defied all expectations and recorded a famous 2-1 victory against seemingly insurmountable odds to help ensure they went through to the knockout rounds of Europe’s premier club competition for only the third time.

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Few, if any, Scotland fans have given Gordon Strachan’s men much hope of defeating Gareth Southgate’s charges in the Russia 2018 qualifier at Hampden tomorrow.

The visitors to Glasgow, who are able to call on the services of, among others, Gary Cahill, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling, are undefeated in five Group F matches and four points clear at the top of their section.

The home team, meanwhile, is in fourth place after a bitterly disappointing campaign and in serious danger of missing out on another World Cup finals.

However, Mulgrew, set to start at centre half in front of a sell-out 50,000 crowd, knows from personal experience that upsets can and do happen and is confident that if the national team perform at their very best they can triumph and increase their prospects.

“Every player goes into every game believing they can get something,” he said. “That night when Celtic played Barcelona there must have been belief among us to get something or else we wouldn’t have achieved it.

“The manager back then (Neil Lennon) was good at giving us that wee bit of hope and highlighting the areas where we could score goals and be effective. The manager here (Strachan) is just as good at preparing us for matches and having that bit of belief.

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“That night against Barcelona was huge for us. Nobody gave us a chance, but we pulled off a victory. I really hope we can do the same on Saturday.”

Having lined up against Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez on that memorable evening in the East End five years ago and helped Celtic triumph, Mulgrew will not be daunted by the calibre of player he will face this weekend.

If anything, the vastly-experienced 31-year-old defender expects the quality and reputation of opponent to bring out the very best in him.

“They are always in your head because of how good they are,” he said. “But I think it maybe sharpens you up a bit, maybe sharpens your senses, when you realise how good these players are. All of a sudden you need to stop them.

“They are difficult nights, trust me they’re not easy. But we’ll all be giving everything we can to get something from the game.”

Kane, the Spurs centre forward, has scored 35 goals this season, including eight in his last three matches, and is a strong contender to start tomorrow. Depriving him, or whoever starts up front for England, time and space to shoot will be key to Scotland’s chances of success. But Mulgrew has warned against concentrating on one man.

“You stop him, but then who else is there?” he said. “There’s Sterling, there’s so many of them. You can’t just pick out one to stop. You stop one, then someone else will step up, like a Defoe.

“It’s a team of world-class players and we’ve got to be prepared and ready for it. We know all their possibilities, what they can do and what they can’t do. We need to turn up on the night and deliver.”

Mulgrew has endured a torrid season at club level with Blackburn Rovers, who he joined from Celtic last summer, and was ultimately unable to help keep the Ewood Park club up in the English Championship.

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He admits that being relegated to League One on the final day of the season last month, despite a 3-1 win over Brentford away, was a painful experience which is still fresh in his memory.

Yet, the 26-times capped player stressed that he is completely focused on the task in hand and is hoping to end his campaign on a high by being involved in what would be a famous win.

“That is a totally separate thing,” he said. “What has happened at club level has happened and I just need to get on with it. That is life. That is the reality of it. We will see what happens going into next season.

“Here, I love playing for Scotland. The challenge is massive, to play against England. That is my focus. I am here to give everything that I can for my country, as everybody else is. I will definitely get a lift if we get a good result.”

The 31-year-old has been blighted by injuries in recent seasons and the Russia 2018 qualifier against Slovenia in March was the first competitive fixture he had started for his country in over 18 months.

However, he has played regularly during in the past nine months and stressed he was in perfect shape to held Scotland get a result. “I feel good, I feel strong, I feel fit,” he said.

The narrow win over Slovenia two months ago - achieved courtesy of a late goal from substitute Chris Martin –was the first time the national team hadn’t conceded a goal in seven outings and Mulgrew has told how that has had a positive impact on the players ahead of the England game.

“We played really well to get the clean sheet,” he said. “It comes from the whole team. A lot of the time the back four get the credit, but we know how hard the people in front of us work and how they make our job a bit easier. It is a team game. We take confidence from it. But it is a whole new challenge again this time around and we need to be ready for it.”

“We are looking forward to the game like any other game. We want to win it. It is not going to be easy. We are underdogs, they have some top class players all over the pitch. We aren’t kidding ourselves, we know how hard it is going to be. But we are up for the game and we are going to give it everything we have got.”