By Gregor Hynds

Just over five years ago, Belgium captain Vincent Kompany remembers when he first encounter the kid that would go on to captain Scotland against him last Friday.

On his last trip to Glasgow in 2013,Kompany and his fellow internationals travelled to Scotland, as they looked to secure their place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was handed a match program by 19-year-old Andrew Robertson. Who back then had just moved to Dundee Utd after impressing in the fourth their of Scottish football with Queen’s Park.

When talking about Robertson’s rise to Scottish captain, Kompany related to the start of his and many other players careers, “A lot of young lads coming through used to be ball boys.”  In the world of football a lot comes from work rate and taking the opportunities presented to you and  nothing was different for the current Premier League Champion.

While talking about the opportunities presented to young players he also mentioned the importance of the drive and desire of player at that age to reach the top. When it came to the new Scotland captain Kompany claimed it was “not so much a surprise, but a natural progression.” It’s fair to say Robertson’s progression has been a shock to all, as we speak of a player that went from lower league Scotland to Champions League Runners-up, in such a short space of time.

The Man City centre-back even talked of knowing of Robertson from his years of playing popular sports game ‘Football Manager’. Kompany mentioned knowing of Andrew when he played in Scotland and stating “Good left-backs are hard to come by. In fact, I did take a gamble.”

So for Kompany it came as no surprise when he saw himself line up against the Robertson, who has been a example to all that nothing is unachievable, as we have seen him go from semi-professional to the top end of world football.