After scoring for Celtic against Barcelona on Tuesday Jack Aitchison struck a double yesterday as Scotland beat Malta 6-0 in the opening match of their u17 European Championship qualifying campaign.
Celtic’s youngest ever goalscorer netted in the 18th and 25th minutes with hoops team-mate Robbie Deas also netting as Scotland cruised to a 5-0 half-time lead.
Next up for Scotland is a clash with Wales tomorrow with the Welsh losing their opening match 2-0 to host nation Portugal. As well as Aitchison and Deas Celtic were well represented in the opening match with Stephen Welsh, Daniel Church and Kerr McInroy all in the starting XI.
Aitchison made his name in the final match of last season when he scored with his first touch on his top team debut against Motherwell.
After that strike it was back to u-17 duty with Aitchison scoring a hat-trick on the final day of the season against Hamilton Accies to deliver the league title alongside the Glasgow Cup.
Having scored for the first team at the age of 16 Aitchison now has to deal with expectations as he begins his first season of full-time football switching between u-17, u-19 and Development Team duties.
Speaking to The Sun after scoring against Barcelona he said: “After the Motherwell game I felt like I was up there, now I feel back down. But I can’t keep dwelling on that goal for the first team. One goal doesn’t mean anything in a 7-0 win.
“It’s up to me to put the hard work in to get back up there. I’m still learning and I’ve got a lot to prove as well. I want to get back in that team and stay in it.
“I am getting recognised a bit more and that’s nice. But I also like to keep my head down. Everybody recognises me in the village. But that’s fine, what I do in my career is for the place as well.”