Grant Hanley has revealed his devastation for Scotland and Norwich City colleague Kenny McLean missing out on the Euros.
A knee injury suffered in the final game of the season for the Canaries ruled ex-Aberdeen midfielder McLean out for 12 weeks, ending his tournament hopes.
McLean was the penalty hero against Israel which took Scotland to the play-off final and he also found the net in the Serbia shootout.
Hanley, who secured promotion back to the English Premier League with McLean this season, has vowed Scotland will do all they can to make him proud.
“I am absolutely devastated for Kenny. I am quite close with him and we are down in Norwich with him. I am devastated for him because he deserves to be at the finals.
“On the pitch, he has made a massive contribution to the team and also off it, we have been building the squad and the togetherness and Kenny has been a massive part of that. I’m sure the boys will all do what we can to do him proud.
“He was devastated. These opportunities don’t come round too often and for me he deserved to be here and the chance to play at a major tournament. He was gutted because it is a tough one to take but the boys will do all we can to make him proud.”
“I saw him in Norwich before we came away, so I managed to spend a bit of time with him.”
McLean was injured against Barnsley and joined another former Don, Ryan Jack, in missing the tournament through injury.
It opened the door to the likes of Billy Gilmour and David Turnbull to earn late call-ups for Steve Clarke’s squad.
Hanley believes the squad has the quality to go further than any Scotland team ever has and make it out of the group stages.
“I think we’ve got to go into the tournament with loads of confidence because this group is continually improving, and we’ve shown that we’re capable of getting results when we need to.
“It’s important that the lads go in with belief and plenty of confidence, take every game as it comes and see where we can get.
“Of course that would be unbelievable, and first of all that is the main target. We’ve got to go there and do ourselves justice. We want to be successful, and our first objective is to do well enough to get through the group stage.”
Hanley is embedded in a fierce battle for starting players at the back, with Clarke likely to continue with a back three.
Kieran Tierney is likely to start on the left, however there is ex-Aberdeen man Scott McKenna, Jack Hendry, incoming Don Declan Gallagher and Liam Cooper all to consider as well.
“You look at the best teams and they have all got two or three in each position who are pushing each other for a place in the starting XI,” added Hanley.
“I think that’s really important for any team in terms of being successful, so it’s good, healthy competition.
“All the boys are pushing each other all over the pitch to get themselves in that starting XI, and that can only be good for the squad.
“It’s the same throughout the squad. In every position there are a number of boys really pushing to get themselves into the team, and it’s definitely a big part of being successful.
“You’ve got to create that togetherness and that healthy competition with the boys all fighting and pushing in the same direction.”
