Scotland manager expecting tough game against China following England thrashing | OneFootball

Scotland manager Melissa Andreatta is expecting a strong performance from China on Tuesday, after this week’s opposition was thumped by England 8-0 on Saturday.

The Lionesses set a new Wembley record with their eight goals and China will be eager to prove themselves now.

Melissa Andreatta expects China to bounce back

After such a difficult weekend in London, China are going to be eager for a win on Tuesday night.

Scotland still come into their final game of the year as marginal favourites to win but they could be up against it now.  

Andreatta believes that such an embarrassing scoreline will have fuelled China’s stars ahead of their trip to Spain where they will face Scotland. 

“I think you’re always a bit surprised when you see a scoreline like that,” she said. “But what I won’t be surprised about is how that team will regroup and how prepared we are to face that challenge.

“They’re a team who are going to want to redeem themselves – they’ve had other really good results – but they’re coming up against a very hungry Scotland who are still a bit disappointed with not getting their own win.”

Scotland’s last game ended 1-1 against Ukraine and they will be hoping to build on that draw against China to finish off 2025. 

“We want to finish this year on a high and we’ll be putting our best foot forward to do that and be ready for battle,” Andreatta concluded.

Scotland have won just one game in 2025 so far which came against Morocco in October.

The Nations League was a disaster for Andreatta’s team who lost every game in the competition. 

Scotland team news

There is one big concern for Scotland with injuries and that is to their captain, Caroline Weir. 

The Real Madrid star looked in pain during the Ukraine draw, but Andreatta assured supporters that her captain is fully fit ahead of their final game of the year.

“Caz has had a massive workload with club coming into country and we’ve got to manage her and make sure she’s fit and just looking after her individually,” she explained.

Weir’s importance can’t be understated, as she became the first Scottish player in history to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or earlier this year.

The 30-year-old is still yet to be named permanent Scotland captain but she has led the team out in all five of her games under Andreatta so far.