12 September 2023 , 20:20
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Harry Maguire suffered the embarrassment of scoring an own-goal for England against Scotland at Hampden Park.
The Manchester United defender was dropped for the friendly, but came on at half-time for Marc Guehi. He would have been delighted to get on the pitch, given his lack of game time at United, but it did not go to plan.
He turned Andy Robertson's low cross into his own net past Aaron Ramsdale to give Scotland a lifeline and make it 2-1 following goals from Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham.
Maguire looked shell-shocked initially before turning to his team-mates and imploring them to "stay calm". He had only been on the pitch 22 minutes in Glasgow after Gareth Southgate decided to start with Crystal Palace's Guehi and Brighton's Lewis Dunk.
Luckily, it did not cost England dear, with Bellingham producing a magical piece of skill to set up Harry Kane to make it 3-1 late on.
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Nevertheless, it was another low moment for Maguire, who has endured a difficult period in his career. He came close to leaving United over the summer, with West Ham agreeing a £30million fee only for the move to fall apart.
He has stayed at Old Trafford to fight for his place, but has been largely frustrated under Erik ten Hag, who has preferred to play Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane. Meanwhile, Victor Lindelof has been used ahead of Maguire, too, in recent times.
However, Southgate has stuck by the £80m defender, continuing to pick him for the Three Lions despite his lack of regular game time at club level. He started the Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine on Saturday, playing alongside Guehi in the 1-1 draw in Poland.
Harry Maguire put the ball past Aaron Ramsdale (ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)"He's a very experienced player, and he's looked very good in training. Harry knows where our support is," Southgate said of Maguire after the Ukraine match.
"He knows he has to keep playing well for us, and I think over the next few weeks, given what's happening with their squad with injuries, he may well have a lot more minutes for [Manchester United] as well."
The 30-year-old was making his 58th appearance for England at Hampden Park. He is by far the most experienced of the central defenders in the current squad, with John Stones absent through injury.
Guehi, Dunk and Fikayo Tomori are short on caps, with Southgate keen to stick by Maguire for his leadership role in defence. His status in the squad was underlined when Kane gave him the captain's armband when heading for the bench after scoring.