John McGinn reveals Scotland-Hungary family spilt and why Euros win would trump Aston Villa success

John McGinn doesn’t want the dancing to stop. The midfielder has been quiet by his standards on the pitch at Euro 2024 so far but he managed to cause a stir off it with a brave attempt at a German folk dance when Scotland arrived at their Garmisch-Partenkirchen base.

Scotland aren’t ready to leave the party yet. They very probably won’t if they can take all three points against Marco Rossi’s Hungary side tonight in Stuttgart. It is one of the biggest games in Scotland’s history and McGinn, who led Aston Villa to a top four place finish last season, isn’t shy about acknowledging the enormity of what’s at stake.

“If we make it here, it would mean even more than it did reaching the Champions League with Villa,” he said. “They’ve been at that level in Europe before, but this is something we’ve not seen – so, yes, it would mean a lot more to me. I’m incredibly proud of everything we achieved in the season that’s just gone by, but this would eclipse it.”

Scotland's John McGinn during a training session at Stadion am Groben in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Picture date: Saturday June 22, 2024.

McGinn has only scored once in his last 11 international appearances and the feeling is he is due a goal as he aims to go level with Ally McCoist in the all-time list with 19.

“Mind you, I need to get a shot on goal first!” he said. "It’s about me keeping making the runs, keeping making the runs, making the same movement. It would absolutely mean the world to get a goal.

“We all know the magnitude of the occasion. We have the chance to write our name into the history books. We all want to be the hero and if it’s me I’ll take one off the shin into the bottom corner to make it happen.”

One might assume that this would delight everyone in his family, but it turns out not. McGinn has relatives in Hungary, including an uncle and two cousins, Tamas and Mark. One is supporting Scotland and the other is supporting Hungary.

“My uncle Joe told me that this morning,” he said. “I hope young Tamas is sad on Monday.

“For them going to school every day, it’s nice for them to share the surname. I’m not sure their pals believe who their cousin is. They were over for the Liverpool game on the last day of the season.” He noted that they were more interested in Liverpool’s Hungarian forward Dominik Szoboszlai than their own big cousin.

McGinn has his teammates have made many friends in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and they are desperate to spend some more time in the Bavarian hills. He re-lived the moment he went viral when the Scotland team arrived a fortnight ago.

“We were told we were going to a welcome party and to be honest I thought it would be a lot quieter than it turned out – it was mental!” he recalled. “When the dancing started, I tried to impersonate the guy in front of me and got what I deserved. He grabbed my arm, pulled me forward and got me involved. I just tried to embrace it!

“It’s been a great place to prepare,” he continued. “We’ve had an amazing hotel, a brilliant pitch and wonderful scenery. When we left today, they told us come back and have another week or two – or three.”

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