Motherwell's Liam Kelly in retirement quip after Kylian Mbappe penalty provides surreal Scotland debut

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Motherwell goalkeeper Liam Kelly joked he would have retired from football if he had saved French superstar Kylian Mbappe's penalty on his Scotland debut.And he admitted it was a surreal moment to go from the Tony Macaroni Arena at Livingston a fortnight ago to staring down one of the world's greatest players in Lille.Over four years since his first call up, Kelly claimed his long-awaited first cap for his country tonight in a 4-1 friendly defeat to France and became the first Motherwell shot-stopper to play for Scotland since Allan McClory almost 90 years ago.Scotland took a shock lead through Billy Gilmour early on, before Kelly saw Benjamin Pavard twice head the ball past him to turn the game on its head.But the biggest moment of his career arrived in the 41st minute when the 2018 World Cup winner stepped up to take a penalty.Kelly guessed the right way and got a hand to Mbappe's strike, but it wasn't enough to keep it out, as the French went on to grab a fourth through Kingsley Coman late on when Kelly had been replaced between the sticks by Zander Clark.And Kelly told Viaplay Sports: "I kind of had an idea he was going to go that way.

It was just a bit more annoying that I got close to it."I was just thinking if I save this I am probably going to retire."It was amazing, so surreal."It was quite emotional as well for me and my family because you work so hard for this moment, and end up facing a penalty against Mbappe."It was mental, crazy."I was at the Tony Macaroni Arena against Livingston with Motherwell a couple of weeks ago, so playing in that game tonight was beyond my wildest dreams."On getting his debut, he said: "It was quite surreal, to be honest.