There is no disguising how proud Sir Alex Ferguson is of his former player Alex McLeish. Seven wins in McLeish’s first nine games as Scotland manager, including an away victory over France, have earned him plaudits worldwide. Beating Italy at Hampden Park on Saturday will determine if Scotland reach Euro 2008 and Ferguson believes Scotland can do it. Sir Alex Ferguson shared his thoughts with Sue McCann.

The results Alex McLeish has achieved in this Euro 2008 qualifying group campaign have demonstrated just how tactically astute Alex McLeish is at a very high level hasn’t it?

“Alex was always tactically aware. As a young kid at Aberdeen he was one of the few that I would have thought was going to be a manager. He’s an intelligent boy who loves the game. I saw his tactics during the Georgia game and midway through the first half he made a change immediately, which was good for the team and it actually improved the team. They didn’t get the result but you could see that he has got the tactical nouse and he works at it, he thinks about it. I’m not surprised by how well he has done, I think he was the perfect man to follow Walter Smith. I think Walter’s early input into the Scottish team gave them that impetus to go forward and they got the country going. Alex has just absolutely taken off the roof, I was at the Ukraine game at Hampden and it was without doubt the best atmosphere I have seen at Hampden for many, many years.

“Now they have got Italy and the straight forward job they have got to do is to beat Italy, that’s all. It’s one game and their record at Hampden Park is so good that you couldn’t bet against them. I think they have a great chance. It is easy to forget the Georgia game because there were some circumstances for that game; they were missing 4 or 5 players, they should have had a penalty in the first half and these things can conspire against you. He’ll have everyone fit hopefully for the final game against Italy at Hampden and it will be a great night.”

Italy probably won’t fancy coming to Scotland much either after Celtic beating AC Milan and Scotland doing the double over France.... so really Scotland should approach this match with confidence and belief...

“Even against Georgia, Alex’s team selection was a very positive one. I think that going into this Hampden game there is pressure on Italy of course, because if they lose they are out and because of their record in these situations. After they won the World Cup in 1982 they didn’t qualify for the European championships in 1984...they’ve got a bad record actually in the European championships following World Cups. They haven’t actually been pulling the trees up (in this qualifying campaign), they’ve staggered along but Italy have done that many times and got there. Italy will find it difficult at Hampden. Scotland with a full squad of players; Brown, Hutton and McCulloch back, Fletcher will be fitter and it will be a different game than Georgia.”