Oli McBurnie: Scotland striker reveals hurt on doubts over commitment

McBurnie has yet to score in his nine appearances for Scotland Venue: Hampden Park Date: Thursday, 8 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST Coverage: Listen live on Radio Scotland & online; text commentary on BBC Sport website & app

Scotland striker Oli McBurnie says it is hard to accept his international commitment being questioned.

The Sheffield United player faced criticism after pulling out of Steve Clarke’s last squad before featuring in a club friendly two days later.

While accepting he has not made it easy for himself, McBurnie revealed the question marks over his commitment hurt the most.

“People are well within their right to question my ability,” he said.

“If people don’t like the way I play or don’t agree with me as a footballer, that’s fine. But, for me, the hard one [to take] is the commitment.

“All the boys in the squad know me and know how much I want to be here to help the team as much as possible.”

McBurnie has scored for Scotland at both under-19 and under-21 level. However, after nine caps, he is yet to net a senior international goal and this is also a source of frustration.

Speaking on the Official Scotland Podcast, the 24-year-old added: “There are a lot of things I’ve ticked off [so far in my career] and for me the one thing I haven’t done that I really want to do is score at international level.

“My performances for Scotland haven’t been where I’ve liked them to be and I haven’t carried my club form, when I’ve been playing well, into my international form which is something I really want to do.

“It’s the pinnacle of football and you know you’re not going to get six, seven chances a game. You might get one and you’ve just got to be ready to take it.”

‘It’s about time for us to qualify’

To lead the line for Scotland in Thursday’s Euro 2020 play-off semi-final with Israel, McBurnie is vying with Lyndon Dykes, Lawrence Shankland and club-mate Oliver Burke.

“It helps having options there,” said McBurnie. “Making the manager’s decision a hard one is what we want to do as strikers.

“We’ve got so much talent and ability in the squad, it’s about time for us now to qualify and I think we are ready.”

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