How Scotland's bizarre but glorious campaign unfolded

"Would you rather we played teams off the park and lost the Scotland way?".

That quote from John McGinn, uttered to the media deep inside Hampden last month, hits different now Steve Clarke's side have achieved the unthinkable.

The Aston Villa captain and his international team-mates had just been booed off following a nervy 2-1 victory over Belarus in Glasgow.

The fact that that win will now be remembered as a hugely significant result in Scotland's long-awaited World Cup return only typifies a bizarre but glorious campaign.

Five weeks later, a shock draw between the Belarusians and Denmark would set up a winner-takes-all showdown between the Scots and the Danes at Hampden. And now, the rest is folklore.

Here's how a national team who have become world-class at discovering new ways to break hearts ended a rollercoaster campaign on the highest of highs.

Drawn into a group of four with Denmark, Greece and Belarus in a refreshed and truncated qualifying format, the Scots knew only top spot would secure automatic qualification for next summer's finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Coming off the back of a humbling Nations League relegation inflicted by the Greeks, and a sobering friendly defeat by Iceland at Hampden, head coach Clarke was again feeling the heat from the Tartan Army.

A 4-0 win away to lowly Liechtenstein in June did little to enthuse anyone as Scotland faced a daunting trip to top seeds Denmark in their opening qualifier in September.

The sight of a 4-4-2 formation on Clarke's teamsheet for that opener in Copenhagen caught everyone off guard, but the move paid off.

A compact, workmanlike four-man midfield helped Scotland earn a priceless point in a goalless draw before a fairly routine 2-0 success against Belarus in Hungary, Che Adams opening the scoring before a Zakhar Volkov own goal.

Robbing Greece & boos in Belarus win

So far, so good as Scotland headed into October, but there was still plenty of work to do.

The message from the camp was to finish their fourth qualifier on 10 points, a realistic aim given back-to-back home games against Greece and Belarus were next up.

First was a visit from the Greeks, who had outclassed Scotland by three goals at Hampden in March to consign Clarke's men to Nations League relegation.

They really ought to have achieved the same outcome seven months later, Kostas Tsimikas' opener coming after an hour of total domination from the visitors.

Hampden was verging on turning toxic, but three goals from nowhere turned what looked like a certain defeat into another pivotal victory.

A rapid leveller from Ryan Christie was followed by a late winner from Lewis Ferguson, then Lyndon Dykes capitalised on a howler from the visiting goalkeeper.

Post-match, a bullish Andy Robertson was in no mood to sour the winning feeling. "If you want to complain about the performance, be my guest, crack on. We're delighted with the three points," the captain said.

But even after another win against Belarus, which took Scotland to their 10-point target and guaranteed them a World Cup play-off spot, there was no hiding from their display.

The Belarusians, Fifa's 100th-ranked national team at the time, had 22 shots at Hampden, with McGinn revealing Clarke went the "wildest" he had ever seen him at half-time.

An early opener from Adams had the Scots one up until the 84th minute, when Scott McTominay buried a second, before the visitors pulled back a stoppage-time consolation.

"I have to be honest, tonight I was really, really disappointed in my team," said Clarke, who should have been celebrating a record-breaking 72nd match in charge.

Athens chaos & Hampden heroics

November was when things started to get daft. Really daft.

Scotland went into their final camp of the campaign knowing that if they avoided defeat in Greece and beat Denmark, it was party time.

What transpired, however, was quite silly.

Clarke's side seemed to be surprised by the Greeks again despite it being the fourth time they had faced them since March.

In a largely-woeful first hour in Athens, the Scots were three down by the 63rd minute while Denmark led Belarus. Hopes of automatic qualification were as good as gone.

But two goals in three minutes for the Belarusians, and two in five for Scotland, plunged the evening into chaos. Dykes ended the night playing left-wing.

Clarke's men would ultimately fail to complete their attempted comeback, with Denmark only managing a draw in Copenhagen, setting up an almighty showdown at Hampden three days later.

What happened next was utterly astonishing.

Hampden erupted with McTominay's outrageous overhead kick, but the dream looked dead when 10-man Denmark responded not once, but twice.

Then two stoppage-time goals from Kieran Tierney, a delightful curling finish, and Kenny McLean's incredible halfway line strike with the last kick ended almost three decades of hurt in an unbelievable finale.