John McGinn, İskoçya formasıyla yeniden etkisini arıyor

John McGinn has scored 21 goals in 91 Scotland appearances

In Skopje these past few days it's been difficult to figure out the most devout people - the local followers of the city's most sacred daughter, Mother Teresa, or the arriving Scots and their most cherished son, Saint John McGinn.

Faith in the blessed one is absolute (and the same goes for Teresa). Raise a critical note and you could be shot down in flames. Point out that McGinn's talismanic excellence has been on the wane in international football for a little while now and you're liable to reap a whirlwind.

This is a weekend when Andy Robertson wins his 100th cap, but McGinn isn't far behind.

After Saturday night he'll be on 92, third on the all-time appearance list while currently sitting in fifth in the all-time scoring chart, one behind the immortal Lawrie Reilly.

There is something to be said, though, and you say it with the hesitancy of a bomb disposal expert approaching a suspect device. For Scotland, McGinn could do with finding his best stuff again.

When he arrives to chat at the Todor Proeski Stadium in Skopje he is compelling when talking about his form, his confidence, his status as inspiration of the team and whatever pressure that comes with it.

"The nature of the beast is, at club and country, you have a lot of responsibility, a lot of weight on your shoulders," he said. "When you do something well, you're the best thing since sliced bread. When you don't have a great couple of games, or you're not producing assists, or you make a poor pass in a pivotal moment of the game, you're automatically not good enough.

"It's the nature of being my age (he'll be 32 later in the month). It's the nature of competing with Scotland and with Aston Villa. I take the praise with a big smile. Any criticism that comes, it's just part of it."

McGinn's influence for his country has probably reduced from the mighty highs of before. None of the pride and passion and phenomenal work-rate has gone, but the game-defining moments have not been there, save for the odd glimpse.

Pocognoli not feeling pressure for first Scotland win

Robertson's Scotland career in numbers as 100th cap looms

Haiti, and the double deflection, sticks out, but beyond that, McGinn has been too quiet for too long. It's unfair to saddle him with the expectation of being superman every time he plays, but he's the one who fans look to, his is the name they chant in good times and in bad.

His last Scotland goal before Haiti at the World Cup was coming up for two years ago.

Opproprium will rein down for the mere mention of him being under pressure to deliver, of course. Being McGinn, he could dominate and score in Skopje, but a reminder of his talent is overdue.

You ask if he feels, as a 91-cap colossus, undroppable. "No, no. I'm certainly not undroppable, " he replied. "I remember Steve Clarke put me on the bench and I had absolutely no issue with that.

"I don't think anyone in the squad is undroppable. It's the challenge to anyone coming into the squad and I encourage that challenge.

"The competition is always there, whether that's someone who's 20, 21 or in their 30s. The best players will play for Scotland. If the manager said to me, 'You're on the bench, I need you for five minutes, ten minutes, zero minutes or 90-plus', we're here to represent Scotland.

"The thing that's made us so successful over the years is that it doesn't matter if you play for Aston Villa, Motherwell, Hibs, St Mirren, anyone. You represent Scotland and at the end of the day the best team will take to the pitch.

"If that's a team without me in it, I'll be the biggest Scotland supporter on the bench."

McGinn scored Scotland's only goal at the World Cup

What keeps him driving on? He's quick to answer. "What keeps me going is how I felt on that first night (his 2016 debut) against Denmark - the pride, the emotion. When you're picked to play for your country, you never know when it's going to be your last, so you don't take it for granted.

"Quite possibly tomorrow night, you never know. It could be the last time you're chosen."

McGinn, of course, has glorious history and iconic status with St Mirren and Hibs, but at Villa something extra-special has happened. His status is now deeply rooted as a legend of the club. Talk to their fans and it's not an appraisal you get but a hagiography. Understandably.

McGinn (more than most others) was the one who got them out of the Championship in 2019, the one who kept them in the Premier League in 2020, the one who dragged them from 17th to 11th to 14th to 7th to 4th in the English top flight, the one who helped bring Champions League football, the one who captained them and scored for them when winning a European trophy last season, the one who broke their European goalscoring record.

McGinn was one of the ones who stayed. Jack Grealish didn't, Douglas Luiz didn't, Ollie Watkins didn't, Emi Martinez didn't, Youri Tielemans didn't.

The best Villa captain since Dennis Mortimer, some say. Given that Mortimer was leader of the iconic league winning team of 1981 and the European Cup winning side of 1982 then that's some compliment.

What makes a legend, somebody asked recently in a Villa discussion. "Humility", "determination", "tenacity", "leadership", "longevity", "success." One club diehard wrote that they've had loads of players in recent decades who tick some of those boxes but it takes a special individual to tick all of them - "and McGinn does."

As one observer put it: "He's unquestionably ahead of any other player we've had this century and surpasses some of the legends from the last one, too." Another said that he fully expects his infant son to say to him in later life: "What was it like watching John McGinn?"

He's too long in the tooth now to be overly influenced by praise or flak. "If I was younger, I would have been straight on Instagram or straight on Twitter," he added. "Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but at the end of the day, you keep your head down, you keep working hard.

"If you go through a barren spell or you go through a spell where you're not doing too well, you need to find that inner self-belief, which I feel like I have. The older you get, you learn how to manage tough moments better. They get worse, though.

"The lows get lower and the highs become less high. But you certainly deal with it a lot better when you're older. When you're younger, it completely consumes you and you try and work too hard to come out of what could potentially be a difficult moment. But I feel as if I'm managing those times well.

"As you get older, you think, 'Oh, can I keep doing this?' But it certainly makes the good days a lot better. You know after a game like Switzerland, do you turn the telly on? No. Do you listen to radio reports? Nope. But if it's 3-0 to Scotland, I would be lying if I said I wouldn't listen to some of it."

The prospect of following in Robertson's footsteps is an enormous incentive. Eight to go after North Macedonia.

More fireworks to come, you hope. Compared to the huge moments in past seasons, McGinn might be in a bit of an international lull right now, but is there a single soul out there who thinks he's done with the heroics? In the tartan-clad city of Teresa, few, you fancy, have lost belief.

Kaynak: BBC · Özgün metin İngilizcedir.