So just how will the visitors deal with that "burden of the shirt"? The adrenaline will be flowing for both sides, but could the raw emotion overwhelm some in the Ukraine side?

National anthem time promises to be off the scale.

It's hard to call these guys heroes when plumbers, bakers and students are facing down Russian tanks, but, for the next few hours, the players carry the hopes of their besieged nation, with thousands killed and millions displaced.

"There’s a new sense of patriotism, a new sense of the burden of the shirt on their shoulders," Ukraine football blogger Andrew Todos told BBC Scotland on Monday.

"These guys understand they are privileged to leave the country when 18-60 year-old men are currently not allowed.

"They are representing Ukraine on a global stage and there has never been such unity in the team, such a connectivity with the nation."

Image source, SNS

Scott Mullen
BBC Scotland at Hampden Park

On a slightly lighter note, I've just spotted Ally McCoist clamber over three rows of seats for a selfie with Gary Tank Commander.

Fair enough.

Scott Mullen
BBC Scotland at Hampden Park

This one feels different. Oh so very different.

Of course, you have the rarity of Scotland being two games away from returning to a World Cup, but the magnitude of that prospect has of course been severely tempered with what is going on in Ukraine. The image of Manchester City's Oleksander Zinchenko breaking down in tears yesterday illustrate that point more than any collection of words.

An hour before kick off and there's already a few thousand inside the ground. To my left, four banks of seats are bathed in light blue and yellow where over 3,500 Ukrainians will be housed. There's also a spattering of Ukraine flags spread around Hampden in the home section.

Outside, we've also had a choir of Scots and Ukrainians belting out the visiting national anthem on the famous Hampden steps. The reality that tonight is much more than a big football match is lost on nobody.

Image source, Scott Mullen

Our reporter Kenny Macintyre has managed to grab Scotland great Graeme Souness trackside.

"I fancy Scotland, I think we have better players," the ex-Liverpool and Rangers manager tells BBC Sportsound. "Overall, I feel it's a game I wouldn't like to play in.

"My emotions world be torn like never before. As we speak, people are losing their lives in Ukraine. We have to acknowledge what's going on round about us.

"Football has a platform like no other in the world to keep Ukraine up there. Football can play its part. We have to always think of them. Right now, football is a poor second to me."

Image source, SNS

Craig Levein
Former Scotland manager on BBC Sportsound

Image source, SNS

Ukraine's big two, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Kyiv, played some fund-raising friendlies across Europe before an international camp was set up in Slovenia at the beginning of May. Then there were wins against Borussia Monchengladbach and Empoli and a draw with Rijeka as Oleksandr Petrakov kept his players ticking over.

Plans for a meeting with DR Congo fell through last week, with the squad, by that time including all overseas players, going through what was described as a "sparring match" with one team playing in the "style of the Scottish national team".

I wonder who got the Grant Hanley role of kicking lumps out of their mates?

Leanne Crichton
Ex-Scotland international on BBC Sportsound

Dinamo Kyiv's Heorhiy Bushchan gets the nod in between the sticks for Ukraine, rather than veteran Andriy Pyatov and ahead of Real Madrid understudy Andriy Lunin.

In total there are six home based players in the starting XI.

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer on Sportsound

Aaron Hickey makes his first start and it's slightly out of position since the teenager plays mainly on the left for Bologna.

However, he is very comfortable with both feet and has appeared on the right six times from 36 appearances for the Serie A side this season.

Liam Cooper gets the nod to replace Kieran Tierney on the left of a back three.

Lyndon Dykes is preferred to Ryan Christie up top.

What do you make of the team? Let's see those thumbs...

Scotland XI: Gordon, McTominay, Hanley, Cooper; Hickey, Gilmour, McGregor, Robertson; McGinn; Adams, Dykes.

The visitors have no injury worries but their home-based contingent haven’t played competitively since December with February’s invasion coming during the winter break.

Will coach Oleksandr Petrakov load up on his 10 overseas players?

He's got some good ones to chose from, including Benfica striker Roman Yaremchuk, Andriy Yarmolenko, recently departed from West Ham, and skipper Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has just won another title with Manchester City.

Eight or nine places in the Scotland team are nailed on, but the loss of Kieran Tierney to injury is a huge blow given his influence in defence and attack.

Scott McKenna and Liam Cooper are left-sided centre-halves but don’t offer those marauding runs forward. Jack Hendry is quick and John Souttar is very comfortable in possession but those two are righties, along with Grant Hanley and Scott McTominay.

There's an issue at right wing-back in Steve Clarke's 3-4-2-1 system, with Nathan Patterson unavailable.

Will he go for the reliable Stephen O'Donnell or plump for the youthful talents of Aaron Hickey or Anthony Ralston?

We'll find out shortly...

Image source, SNS

So there it is, Scotland have unwittingly been cast as the villains as many across the globe root for a Hollywood ending.

News outlets from all over the world will be focused on Hampden, with the game taking on a significance beyond the usual parameters of sport.

"Ukraine want to give their country a lift, which is absolutely 100% understandable,’ said Scotland boss Steve Clarke. "But we want to go to the World Cup as well. We want to give our country a lift.

"It’s very difficult to do but you have to separate the situation that the Ukrainians find themselves in and the context of a football match. It’s a football match and that’s what we focus on."

Image source, SNS

Ukraine legend Andriy Shevchenko says the game is "much more than football for us right now".

"Going to the World Cup is very important for Ukraine right now. The motivation is incredible.

"We need to play for the fans, for the whole of Ukraine, for those at home, for those defending the country and for those who left the country."

"It’s a very big responsibility,” Ukraine manager Oleksandr Petrakov said in a recent interview with TIME magazine. "Many of our fans are soldiers in the Ukrainian army."

The 64-year-old also revealed that he tried to enlist as soon as his home city of Kyiv came under threat in February.

"It would be wrong if I ran from my city where I was born," he explained. "But they said ‘You are too old and don’t have any military skills. Instead, you better bring us to the World Cup.’"

That's what Scotland captain Andy Robertson acknowledged last week, when speaking so eloquently about this fixture and what it means.

"If it was any other country, I would probably want them to win but unfortunately they're playing against my country and we have to stand in their way," said the Liverpool left-back.

"We'll be so receptive of Ukraine before and after the game but during that 90 minutes, that 120 minutes, or whatever it takes, we have to be ready to fight for our dreams as well. As players, we want to go to a World Cup."

Image source, SNS