Burley gets on with it as Scotland suffer Old Firm withdrawals

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Four Rangers players and one from Celtic have pulled out the clash at Hampden bringing to total number of players to withdraw from the squad to seven.

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Scotland skipper Ferguson is ruled out

James McFadden was first to be ruled out after undergoing key-hole surgery on his knee, before being joined by Rangers quartet Barry Ferguson (ankle), Lee McCulloch (thigh), Christian Dailly (broken toe) and Allan McGregor (knee).

Derby's Stephen Pearson (hernia) and Celtic's Barry Robson (knee) have also been added to the list.

Celtic and Rangers meet in the second Old Firm derby of the season on Saturday but Burley maintained that the players would treat the midweek fixture as just as important.

"It wouldn't have been any different. All the players here were desperate to play for their country, individually they want to play for Scotland," Burley said.

"They all reported but the medical people looked at them and they weren't fit. Unfortunately, it's as simple as that.

"Every one of them wants to play for their country and it wasn't a case of looking at the game coming up on Saturday, it was down to them being injured."

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Talisman: McFadden, scoring against France in Paris, is also sidelined

Cardiff's Gavin Rae has been drafted into the squad, while Darren Fletcher is on his way to Scotland's Cameron House base after recovering from a virus.

The captain's armband will go to Stephen McManus in the absence of Ferguson and Burley confirmed he has no plans to bring in any further reinforcements.

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McManus will take over the armband against Croatia

He added: "I named a big squad and we had one or two players who had knocks that we were aware of and there are others who unfortunately have had operations and cracked toes. There are seven out but it will give other people a chance.

"I spoke to Cardiff last night and Gavin Rae has been pulled into the squad. Darren Fletcher missed the game yesterday with a virus but he feels a lot better today so he is travelling up at the moment. We will get Darren to train tomorrow."