The Belgium anthem over, the players shake hands and we are almost there...

Big task for Scotland and Steve Clarke.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke tells Sky Sports: "We gave Andy every chance and he tried to train last night but woke up this morning and it was no good.

"It’s a fantastic opportunity for Greg Taylor now. It’s against the best team in the world and he just has to go and enjoy himself - the pressure is on me because I picked him it’s not on Greg.

"One or two little knocks and niggles out of the weekend - one of the wide boys probably wouldn't last 90 if he started, so I had to balance out getting a good 30 minutes out him at the end if that’s what we need.

"It’s also about freshening up the wide areas where we ask a lot of the wide areas defensively to get the job done and tonight hopefully we will be fresh.

"We have to try and play the perfect game defensively. We can’t afford to gift goals through our mistakes."

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There's plenty of voices belting out Flower of Scotland.

For once, they seem to be in time too!

Here come the teams and the noise levels are raised several decibels...

Peter Houston
Former Scotland assistant manager on BBC Sportsound

With Belgium being hot favourites to win Group I, Scotland are realistically competing with Russia for the runners-up spot.

But, with the Scots' miserable opening 3-0 defeat in Kazakhstan being quickly followed by Russia's imperious 4-0 win in the same Astana venue, Stanislav Cherchesov have a distinct advantage.

The Russians also thumped San Marino 9-0 to further increase their advantage over the Scots, who could only manage a 2-0 victory over the world's lowest-ranked team.

Alex McLeish has since been succeeded by Steve Clarke, but the unimpressive start to the campaign leaves the new head coach needing at least four points in their head-to-heads against Russia, the Russians to slip up against Cyprus or Kazakhstan, which is unlikely, or to take more from their meetings with Belgium than the Russians do!

Belgium's players also need little introduction, especially with 11 of their 23-man squad having ended the season contracted to clubs in England's top flight.

The star of a star-studded squad is Eden Hazard, the winger who has just completed a multi-million pound move from Chelsea to Real Madrid worth more than the whole of the Scotland squad put together.

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Belgium coach Roberto Martinez has been well known to Scottish football fans since he signed for Motherwell in 2001. Before moving on to Walsall, he found himself a Scottish wife, Beth.

"She's no problem, it's more my father-in-law," the 45-year-old Spaniard said about the atmosphere at home ahead of tonight's game. "We put a ban up at home so we aren't speaking about football since the Kazakhstan game, but I hope that everyone is very upset when I get home."

Martinez has himself been linked with the Celtic manager's job in the past and has a familiar face from the Scottish champions in his ranks, with former Scotland midfielder Shaun Maloney being one of his assistants along with former France striker Thiery Henry.

Read more.

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Former Scotland coach Peter Houston tells BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound: "You never know how players come through games like Cyprus. A lot of players pick up knocks easier.

"It's how they work off the ball tonight. They will know exactly, no matter who he picked, how they were going to defend.

"It's probably not the team he would have wanted to pick, to be honest, but the principles are the same in how Steve would want them to play."

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As current Fifa number ones, Belgium are obviously the form team in world football, having lost just one of their past 33 qualifiers.

They eased aside Kazakhstan 3-0 in Brussels on Saturday to stretch their winning run to 10 home games since a 2-0 defeat by Spain in September 2016.

But, on their way to the Nations League semi-finals, Switzerland showed that Roberto Martinez's side are not invincible with November's 5-2 thumping of Belgium in Lucern.

Scotland, ranked 44th in the world, have only won two of their last six away games, losing the other four, but those came in their last three trips abroad.

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The thin line between success and failure in football was exemplified by Saturday's match at Hampden.

Ionnis Kousoulos' equaliser with three minutes looked like handing Steve Clarke and his side's qualification hopes a near killer blow on his debut as Scotland head coach.

Two minutes later and Oliver Burke's winner ensured the former Kilmarnock boss could wax lyrical about a satisfactory start and being "back in the mix".

Match report: Scotland 2-1 Cyprus

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John Southall
BBC Radio 5 live football reporter in Brussels

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The King Baudouin Stadium is a vast, old-fashioned arena decked out in red, yellow and black with a pocket of Scotland fans away to the right - some in blue, some in pink, some in yellow, some shirtless (?) and all in good voice.

What a night for Greg Taylor to make his Scotland debut at left-back. He’s only up against a front three of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku - good luck with that. He is, though, a confident individual by all accounts and this will be a night he’ll never forget.

Billy Dodds
Former Scotland striker on Sportsound

Since Jimmy Delaney scored twice in a 2-2 draw with Belgium in Glasgow in 1946, Scotland have only won four of the 18 meetings between the sides, losing 11 times.

September's 4-0 win at Hampden means Belgium have come out on top in the last four meetings between the sides without conceding a goal.

BBC Radio Scotland pundit Billy Dodds was the last Scot to score against Belgium, contributing both goals in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden in March 2001.

Scotland's last win against the Red Devils came in 1987, with Ally McCoist and Paul McStay scoring without reply in a Euro qualifier at Hampden.

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Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland in Brussels

The Tartan Army are starting to make their way into the King Baudouin Stadium and, despite no doubt in some shock over the team news, they look to be enjoying themselves and are jumping about in tune to the music blaring out from the PA system.

Around 4,000 visiting fans are expected through the gates here. Never has the 12th man (or woman) been more important than against the world’s best team.

Image source, Jane Lewis

Belgium's starting XI has a total of 797 international appearances and 126 goals between them.

Scotland's has 146 and seven, less collectively than Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen.

Maybe best not think about what that might mean tonight.

Image source, BBC Sport

Belgium: Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen, Meunier, Witsel, Tielemans, T Hazard, De Bryne, Lukaku, Hazard.

Substitutes: Mignolet, Sels, Dendoncker, Vermaelen, Carrasco, Catagne, Praet, Januzaj, Mertens, Origi, Benteke, Batshayi.

Scotland: Marshall, O'Donnell, Mulgrew, McKenna, Taylor, McLean, McGregor, McTominay, Armstrong, Russell, Burke.

Substitutes: Bain, McLaughlin, Forrest, McGinn, Brophy, Fraser, Palmer, Souttar, Findlay, McNulty, Shinnie.

Image source, BBC Sport

One game has already been played in Group I, with Kazakhstan having thumped San Marino 4-0 in Astana.

Islambek Kuat broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time, with Maxim Fedin, Gafurzhan Suymbayev and Bayyrzhan Islamkhan adding to that after the break.

The three points draw the Kazakhs level on points with Russia and Scotland, who drop to fourth on head-to-head results.

Russia play host to Cyprus tonight.

Will the mood of the Scottish fans who have flooded into Brussels be dampened by that team news?

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