Born in Scotland, Aiden McGeady chose to represent the Republic of Ireland and has been a regular in the team under Giovanni Trapattoni, featuring in all 12 UEFA EURO 2012 qualifiers. After several years with Celtic FC, the pacy winger joined Russian club FC Spartak Moskva in 2010.

• Came through the youth ranks at Celtic and was identified as a special talent at an early age, scoring on his senior debut shortly after his 18th birthday in a Scottish Premier League game against Heart of Midlothian FC.

• Won his first senior cap for Ireland two months later in a friendly against Jamaica but did not feature regularly in the side until the UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying competition.

• Became a regular in Martin O'Neill's final season in charge as Celtic manager, making 27 SPL appearances and winning the 2005 Scottish Cup; subsequently won a hat-trick of SPL titles under O'Neill's successor, Gordon Strachan, and also appeared in three successive UEFA Champions League campaigns, scoring his first European goal in a 2007/08 group game at home to SL Benfica.

• Left Celtic, after an impressive 2009/10 season, for Spartak, becoming Scottish football's most expensive export in a reported €11.6m move; scored two goals in 11 starts in his first half-season.

• Finally scored his first goal for Ireland − on his 38th appearance − in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier at home to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia then repeated the feat in a 2-0 win in Andorra as he proved a key figure in the team's first qualification for a major tournament for a decade.