Oli McBurnie says he can be the man to carry Scotland’s goalscoring burden.
Behind Steven Fletcher’s nine goals, the next highest scorer Scotland have is Andy Robertson with two, highlighting the need for someone to step up to the plate in the crucial Uefa Nations League double-header.
Swansea striker McBurnie has no goals in six caps for Scotland but has seven goals in 17 Championship appearances this season, as he has impressed under the stewardship of new Swans boss Graham Potter.
With Leigh Griffiths absent from the squad and the national team needing goals, McBurnie is confident he can take the responsibility.
He said: “Some might say it’s pressure, others might say it’s an opportunity. The team needs goals to get results, and as strikers it’s down to us to try and find ways to get those goals. So if I get the job it’s down to me to try and do that.
“It would be a pinnacle, scoring for your country. It’s what you dream about when you are a kid growing up. Hopefully it will be soon and I’ll tell you all how it feels.
“Obviously if you take Griff out, that’s a lot of goals and he’s been the number nine for a few years.
“Naturally, without him there are going to be goals missing.
“The boys coming in don’t have as many caps but there is quality in there and we have confidence within ourselves and we know we are capable of doing the job this weekend and next week.”
The 22-year-old admitted he has taken a bit of ribbing from his Welsh team-mates at the Liberty Stadium about the success of the Wales side in recent years. However, he sees more than enough in the Scots’ ranks to achieve something similar.
McBurnie added: “Yeah, they like to bring it up a lot, so it can be tough to take sometimes.
“To be fair there are quite a few Scots down there now so I have a bit more backup so we can fight back a bit more.
“But they do like to bring it up and to be fair you can’t take away from what they have done.
“You look at the players they have got and there are some of the highest quality. They did really well at Euro 2016 and they have got some good young boys coming through at Swansea who are just being introduced to the team.
“It shows that, no matter the size of the country or the expectations people have, you can always exceed them.
“Wales in that tournament were a great example of that with how they did it and how far they got – and that gives us hope we can do the same in the future.
“You look at the Northern Ireland team and on paper people might think they wouldn’t do as well as they have.
“But you win a few games and you never know where it can take you.”
