Andy Robertson: My record-equalling Scotland cap is a tribute to Kenny Dalglish

Scotland captain Andy Robertson claims his 102nd cap should be a reason to celebrate Sir Kenny Dalglish and not himself as he prepares to join his fellow former Liverpool player as record appearance holder.

The 32-year-old will draw level with Dalglish when he leads Scotland out at Hampden on Friday against North Macedonia in the Nations League.

“Tomorrow’s not really about me,” the Tottenham left-back said. “It’s about him in my opinion. For how long the record stood, for what he achieved in his career, for the person he is.

“It’s another reason for our country to tip our hat to one of the greatest players that have played the game, never mind in Scotland, he’s definitely the greatest in Scotland.”

Robertson was speaking on the 40th anniversary of Dalglish’s final international, a 3-0 win over Luxembourg when he was in his second season as Liverpool player/manager.

“That tells you everything that you need to know, the fact that he’s juggling all that and still showing up for his country,” Robertson said.

“He reminds me all the time that 102 caps back then was a lot harder than 102 caps now, and he’s right because there were less games.

“In terms of numbers, I’ll stand side by side with him, but I don’t want people to forget how important this man has been for our country.

“He was arguably the best player in the world at his time and he’ll always be the greatest in this country.”

Dalglish recently joked that he hoped Robertson would retire before he sets a new record.

“We’ve had a lot of jokes, but I also know deep down how proud he is of me and how happy he is for me as well,” the former Dundee United player said.

“I always remember when I got the captaincy, he was one of the first people to text me and say, ‘I know I’ve been out of the game maybe a little bit, but if you need help, if you need somebody to bounce anything off, then I can be that person’.

“To have somebody like that, that you can bounce anything off and rely on, him and his family have been such a massive help to my family, especially in my time at Liverpool.

“I’ve got no doubt there’ll be a couple of texts that will get exchanged. I know we laugh and we joke, publicly and privately, but I know he’s proud of me and he’s happy for what I’ve achieved as well.”

Robertson is set to surpass Dalglish in Switzerland on Monday and he is no mood to slow down.

“I’m still hungry to achieve more for the country,” he said. “I want to get Scotland back to another major tournament, I want to try and get out the group stages.

“Secondly, I want to try and leave the squad in the best possible place in terms of the quality coming through, the characters they’ve got, the mentality they’ve got.

“If I can leave that behind, then I can maybe enjoy Scotland games a bit more and I can join the fans and party with them.”