Chelsea’s shining star Mason Mount has reflected on coming up against his Blues team-mate Billy Gilmour after they had both featured on opposite sides of football’s oldest rivalry.
Mount has been Gareth Southgate’s regular for England for a while now, whilst young Barry Gilmour made his first international competitive appearance for Scotland manager Steve Clarke’s starting line-up when the two sides met at Wembley in the Euro 2020 group stage last night.
Although this was the young Scottish lad’s first-ever competitive international appearance, having only made his debut earlier this month, Gilmour was brilliant as his side secured a hard-fought 0-0 draw and was named UEFA’s Star of the Match.
Mount was in no way surprised by Gilmour’s performance as this was hardly the first time he had seenthe illustrious youngster whom former Blues boss and club legend Frank Lampard had lots of faith in – rise to every challenge he has faced in his short career so far.
“He didn’t surprise me, I know what he is like as a player,” said Mount.
“We had a good battle and every time he plays he seems to get man of the match – he has done it a few times when he has played at Chelsea.
“He gets chucked in at the deep end sometimes and he is always swimming. I always watched his development and he is going to keep getting better and better and that is good for him personally, for the club and also at international level.”
The goalless draw was certainly a memorable result for Scotland, dignified with calm composure as they celebrated a classic underdog performance and ably keeping their neighbors at bay in their home stadium at a major international tournament.
For the Three Lions however, Mount insists the players are not disheartened with their failure to score the winning goal despite being the pre-tournament heavy favorites, while also dismissing suggestions the pressure of the occasion spooked them.
Preferring to look ahead instead, he says the Three Lions are intent on finishing the job of qualifying for the knockout stages of Euro 2020 when they meet the Czech Republic in their last group match on Tuesday.
“I think there is pressure on every game, we are England and are always looking to win every game and the performances we look to put in have to be top quality. We just try to focus on ourselves and how we can improve, what areas of our game we can do better in.
“I think obviously we know how big the game was but the way we played, we tried to break them down and score goals. The way they set up, with five at the back, made it tough for us, but we got the point and we move on now. Hopefully we win the next game and we are through.”