Two Scottish youth internationals will make history for Tottenham tonight when they become the first pair of identical twins to be included in a senior match squad for the club.
Michael and Matthew Craig shared a womb for nine months and now share the subs bench for Spurs' Europa Conference League play-off round first leg against Pacos de Ferreira.
The 18-year-olds were born just two minutes apart in Barnet hospital on 16 April, 2003. Before joining Spurs, both played for arch-rivals Arsenal at Under 21 level before crossing the North London divide.
Despite being born in the English capital, they represent Scotland at international level, qualifying through both their maternal and paternal grandfathers, who are both Scottish. One of them - Ron Still - also played professionally, turning out as a striker for Notts County.
Speaking to the official Spurs programme on being an identical twin, Matthew said: “I quite enjoy it. I’m lucky because I get on with my brother really well so you always have someone to speak to if you need to and if you want to go out and do something you’ve always got someone to do it with.
"If he doesn’t want to do something I’ll pester him into it!”
Brother Michael explained how the pair just get each other, on and off the pitch. He said: “Everyone has players who they have a natural chemistry with and when you spend a lot of your lives together, you just end up knowing what the other person wants from you on and off the pitch. That gives you a deeper understanding of how you can work with them to try to dominate games with the team.”
