Poland face Scotland also searching for fresh start

Robert Lewandowski is back fit after suffering injury in Germany

While Scotland’s European Championship was firmly in the anti-climactic category, the same could be said for their first Nations League opponents.

Poland were the last team to qualify for Euro 2024 and they were the first to go out, two days before Steve Clarke and his players exited to the not-so-sweet sounds of a Bavarian oompah band ringing in their ears.

Of course, Poland were in arguably the toughest section of the lot.

They were humbled by Austria in Berlin, making it back-to-back defeats after a heartbreaking late loss of their own against the Dutch.

That they held France to a draw in their final game made no difference. They, like Scotland, were heading home to face their own music.

In truth, Michal Probierz’s side have been struggling for answers for a while now.

They scraped into Germany by virtue of a penalty shoot-out play-off victory over Wales in Cardiff that came off the back of a disjointed and chaotic qualifying campaign during which they lost to group winners Albania and minnows Moldova.

Experienced coach Fernando Santos paid with his job and was replaced with former under-21 coach Probierz.

They won just three of their 10 matches in that section yet reached the finals.

This was a side that had reached the knock-out stages of the 2022 World Cup, squeezing out Mexico by a single goal.

And, although they would lose out to a Kylian Mbappe-inspired France in the last 16, it was their first appearance at that stage of World Cup since 1986.

The last time Scotland faced Poland in competitive action it was for a place at Euro 2016 in France, with the sides sharing four goals on both occasions in one of the most frustrating campaigns in years for the Tartan Army.

Despite dropping four points to Gordon Strachan’s men across the group, Poland qualified automatically behind Germany and would go all the way to the quarter-finals of the tournament, their best return at a major finals since finishing third at the World Cup in Spain in 1982.

They ran into eventual winners Portugal, although it took penalties to deny them in Marseille. It was an excellent Polish side that reached fifth in the Fifa world rankings. The current one is not at the same level.

Yes, captain Robert Lewandowski continues to lead the line and will be a clear and present threat to Scotland on Thursday evening.

The now 36-year-old striker has scored four goals in four games for Barcelona already this season, but he is in the autumn of his career now and may well have played at his final major tournament, 16 years after he made his debut for his country.

Probierz will have to do without Wojciech Szczesny after the former Arsenal goalkeeper surprisingly called time on his career and one of Lewandowski's other peers, winger Kamil Grosicki, who has retired from international football in the wake of the Euros.

Transition is around the corner for Poland, but for now there is a ready-made replacement in goal in Lewis Ferguson’s Bologna team-mate, Lukasz Skorupski.

Meanwhile, Piotr Zielinski was one of the main driving forces behind Napoli’s long-awaited Serie A title in 2023 - the midfielder has now moved to current champions Inter Milan.

Even though Lewandowski dominates, Poland tend to play with two up front and each of the strikers in the squad have impressive numbers.

In Krzysztof Piatek, they have a man who has scored at Hampden Park before when he netted a controversial late penalty during the 1-1 friendly draw in Glasgow in 2022.

He has already grabbed eight goals in nine appearances for club side Istanbul Basaksehir this season.

Defensively, like Scotland recently, Poland may be more suspect, although Arsenal's Jakub Kiwior and Southampton's Jan Bednarek operate at the highest level despite the former not having played yet this season.

"We should not feel sad," Probierz said after they exited the Euros. "It's just foundations for the future to compete against every opponent that we may face.

"We have constructed something here. I see the potential in this team. I see a lot of young players emerging."

Optimistic noises amid disappointment ahead of what is a huge game on Glasgow’s south side. Sound familiar?