Stephen O’Donnell is confident the national team can do themselves justice after making the Scotland squad for Euro 2020.
Motherwell defender O’Donnell has been a regular pick under manager Steve Clarke and was named in the 26-man squad for the tournament, which starts next month.
The Scotland squad will fly out to Spain for a pre-tournament camp and then play friendlies against Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Their first game is against Czech Republic at Hampden Park on June 14, with England at Wembley four days later and then Croatia in Glasgow on June 22.
O’Donnell believes Scotland have shown they have what it takes to mix with Europe’s best sides.
He told Sky Sports: “That’s got to be the ambition. We’ve shown we can compete in big games and hopefully we’ll do that. Maybe three points will be enough but we’ll go out and get as many points as we can.
“The main thing is we don’t let ourselves down. I’m sure the squad and staff we’ve got, we’ve got every chance of doing that.
“You just need to go to the Serbia game to see how we performed in a high-pressure situation against a very good Serbia side. We deserved to win in the 90 minutes and thankfully did it in penalties.
“It’s the highlight of my career, without doubt, getting to a major tournament. It’s something I’ll never forget. It’s a long time since we were last in a major tournament and hopefully we can do ourselves proud.”
It is the first major tournament appearance for Scotland since the 1998 World Cup in France, where they exited at the group stage.
The Scotland squad is packed with top-level talent, with a significant number playing in the English Premier League.
Their approach under Clarke has made them difficult to beat, something which should continue into the Euros.
O’Donnell added: “I think we’re all guessing – we’ve not been in this situation for a long time. I’d imagine we’ll be organised and hard to break down and hopefully get a couple of goals.
“We’ve got quality at the top end. We’ve got Lyndon Dykes, Che Adams, Kevin Nisbet has been in good form this season. We want to go into the first game full of optimism and hopefully we can get a couple of good results.”
The 26 players picked to represent Scotland at UEFA #EURO2020. pic.twitter.com/uV5epmAEJc
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) May 19, 2021
O’Donnell insists he was hopeful rather than expectant at being named in the squad, given the competition for places.
Nathan Patterson, the young Rangers full-back, has been handed a maiden call-up but squad regular Liam Palmer misses out.
He added: “I don’t know if I expected to be in. (Nathan) Patterson coming in and (Liam) Palmer playing well down south, the competition was there. Thankfully I’ve managed to stay in and if I’m involved in the tournament, I can do myself justice.
“It’s been, the last couple of weeks, a lot of media asking, expecting me to be going and it’s made it a bit tougher. I’ve seen a few of my team-mates pulling out through injury and it starts to play in your head a wee bit.
“I got through the last two games – I don’t think I had a stinker – and thankfully I’ve made the squad.”