'I came on for James, which he wasn't too happy about'

Luca Scanlon, 16, replaced his brother to make his Gibraltar debut. The teenage duo talk ambition and sibling rivalry

- Will Unwin

It was almost a perfect night for the Scanlons when the 16-year-old Luca came on for his elder brother, James, to make his Gibraltar debut last month against the Faroe Islands, but there was a nagging problem. "I told him the night before not to play my position," the older sibling jokes.

Only 57 days after Luca's sweetest birthday, he became a full international. His plan was to be there to support James, alongside a plethora of other family members, but Gibraltar's head coach, Scott Wiseman, invited him to train with men twice his age to see what he was about and saw enough to promote him from the under-21s.

James is a right-footed winger who plays off the left and Luca is the opposite.

“It was a shock because I wasn’t expecting it,” says Luca, who is in the Burnley academy. “I came on for him, which he wasn’t too happy about.” But James, a Manchester United Under-21s player, has recovered from the upset. “I knew he’d be fine,” James says. “The players all liked him. They all knew what he was about as a player. I knew he had the backing from everyone.”

James has been a role model for Luca on the pitch, his 16 caps earned before he turned 19 last month and his international debut coming at the ripe old age of 17. He has played the Czech Republic and Croatia, whom he is set to face again on Sunday after today’s friendly against New Caledonia, and played in a momentous draw against Wales. James has gone toe-to-toe with Luka Modric, who is more than twice his age.