Stephen O'Donnell has revealed that Scotland teammate John McGinn gave him tips on how to handle England attacker Jack Grealish.

McGinn stars alongside Grealish for Aston Villa in the Premier League and he made sure his teammates were well versed on how to handle his quick feet.

O'Donnell has hilariously revealed that he wound up the 25-year-old by complimenting him on his good looks and his large calves.

And his tactics appeared to work as he kept Grealish quiet after he was introduced from the bench in the second half at Wembley.

Motherwell defender O'Donnell told Scotland HQ: “I think (for the booking) I was just starting to get a wee bit fed up.

“He had just come on and normally when the fresh wingers come on and you’re a wee bit tired you’re just thinking, ‘I need to hit him here’.

“I was getting fed up with him trying to take the mickey out of me so I gave him a wee hit!

“John McGinn had been giving me some tips. He said if (Grealish) comes on I had to get nibbling in his ear.

“But don’t be critical, be complimentary. So the full time he was on I was telling him how good looking he was and that I loved his calves!

“I was asking him how he get his hair like that. John said that if you tell him he was hopeless or to kick him really, really hard he gets up and gets back at you.

"So maybe that was the advantage against Jack Grealish the other night.

“I also noticed he doesn’t shave his calves!

"Most boys shave their legs as it’s good for the masseurs but Jack’s got massive calves and he doesn’t shave them.

“So I said to him they must be so big the fact that he doesn’t shave them and they still get spoken about!”

O'Donnell was immense against England at Wembley and he is hoping for more of the same as Scotland take on Croatia on Tuesday in their vital final game of Group D.

He added: “The mood in the camp is slightly better than it was after the Czech game, it’s safe to say!

“It was a great night and a great performance. The only disappointment was we didn’t get the three points but we’ve done everyone proud.

“Similar to the England game we’ll approach Croatia with caution as they’ve got bags of quality.

“It will be a tough game but one we go into with optimism and we’ll give it a right good bash.”