Captain Gemma Fay has won 200 caps for Scotland, but admits number 201 will be the biggest of her career as she prepares to lead her side out for their Euro 2017 curtain-raiser against bitter rivals England in Holland tonight.

The veteran goalkeeper has been ever-present for almost 20 years, but tonight will mark Scotland’s first ever match at a major tournament.

And it could not be a tougher baptism of fire, with England entering as one of the major contenders to win the whole thing after their third-placed finish at the World Cup two years ago.

But Fay, 35, believes the pressure is entirely off, and they can go out and cause an upset.

“It is the biggest game of my career and it is possibly the biggest game for some of the players,” she said.

“Every cap is a huge honour, as anyone who has ever played international football will tell you a lot of hard work and effort goes into it but I am delighted to be given the opportunity to represent my country on this stage.

“It has been a long time coming and I think we are all relishing it. When the tournament was expanded [from 12 teams to 16], there was an expectation that we would be a qualifier and that is a different case.

“Normally, we have always been drawn with a Germany or France and not had that expectation, but once we qualified we talked about showing what we are about – and there is now an opportunity to deliver on that.

“As a one-off game, it is a fantastic occasion to be a part of and I think any player who wants to play for Scotland and England wants to be a part of a game like this, so it is a huge rivalry but first and foremost it is the opening match in the European Championships."

England and Scotland are joined in Group D by Spain and Portugal, and the Scots have a chance to of progressing to the knock-out stages – if all of their big guns perform.

And coach Anna Signeul is desperate to see her side display their best tonight, and embrace the occasion.

“We go in as underdogs, that is for sure. It does not mean that we do not have any expectations on us, because we have expectations to go out there and put in a good performance,” she said.

“I think that is what we are focussing on and we will see how far that takes us.

“I think we have to enjoy it, embrace the experience and that has been the message for the whole journey. It has all been about enjoying every single second.

“I think if we get nervous, it can be hard to enjoy the moment but the message is to embrace it. There are very few people who get the opportunity to represent their country.

“As a Swede, I am proud to hear the Swedish national anthem but I will be just as proud to hear the Scottish one.”

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