Scotland assistant Steven Reid last night expressed hope that Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack will be available to start for Scotland in the Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Israel.
Jack was selected for Steve Clarke’s squad last week despite the fact he had been sidelined with a calf injury since the Premiership match against Dundee United last month.
The 28-year-old came on in the Europa League play-off win over Galatasaray last Thursday night and started in the victory against Ross County on Sunday afternoon.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard was furious Jack took part in a double training session with the national squad just two days after he had played against Celtic in September last year.
The former Aberdeen man aggravated a long-standing knee injury and was forced to pull out of the Euro 2020 qualifying double header against Russia and Belgium.
Gerrard appealed to Clarke and his backroom team to treat his player with common sense ahead of the match against Israel at Hampden on Thursday night and the Nations League meetings with Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Reid stressed that every member of the 26 man squad will be closely monitored by Scotland medical staff in the coming days.
However, he stated that Jack, who started in the Nations League game against Israel last month as well as in the Euro 2020 qualifying wins over Cyprus and Kazakhstan last November, appeared to be in good shape.
“Various players are at different stages of their recoveries after games, so we had a smaller group yesterday,” said the former Republic of Ireland internationalist.
“We’ve got to monitor those who played on Sunday so over the next 24 hours, we’ll get a clearer picture of where they’re at and how we manage the recoveries over the next couple of days.
“Football has gone that way, with the monitoring of GPS and data and liaising with clubs. It is a balancing act, monitoring the different recovery days, and it’s trying to put all that together into sessions and availability of players.
“Before it was almost a one-size-fits-all approach, certainly in my time, but now it’s a bit more tailored to the risks posed by certain sessions you might do.
“Jack was part of a group that met up later on yesterday, having played on Sunday. As far as we’re aware he’s all good. He played a little bit in the week and the 65 on Sunday, so it’s all good.”
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