Amy Canavan
BBC Scotland at Hampden Park

The sun is shining and the Tartan Army are in fine voice already.

Singing the name of their midfield maestro, John McGinn. Goosebumps kinda stuff... so goodness knows how he feels hearing his name belted out, again.

Andy Robertson's delivery is palmed away by goalkeeper Demetris Dimitriou.

Callum McGregor finds Kieran Tierney in the box but his cross is cut out.

Scotland, bedecked in their new strip that marks 150 years of the Scottish FA, are enjoying some early possession.

Stuart Armstrong goes on a run on the left and wins a throw. Another soon follows on the same side and captain Andy Robertson then wins a corner.

National anthems done and dusted and Scotland's Stuart Armstrong kicks off.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke tells Viaplay: "Over the course of the week all three goalkeepers have been pushing each other really hard in training. At the end of the day, it's my decision whether I go with my gut feeling or if I've seen something in training that I like. Angus gets the nod today and hopefully he has a very good debut.

"I've got options on the pitch, we can change the formation in-game if we have to. I've got fantastic options off the bench which is a measure of how far we've improved as a national squad.

"The hope for the campaign is that we qualify directly. I know we've go the back-up of the play-offs, but we don't want to go to a knockout stage."

Sportscene will broadcast highlights from today's match at Hampden on BBC One Scotland tonight from 22:35 GMT.

Image source, BBC Sport

After today's match at Hampden is done and dusted, the second match in Group A will kick off in Malaga as Spain host Norway.

Georgia play their opener at home to Norway on Tuesday, shortly before the Scots host Spain.

Scotland have seven wins from seven meetings with Cyprus, dating back to 1968.

Their first encounter was a 5-0 away victory for the Scots, which was followed by an 8-0 win at Hampden.

Later match-ups have been much closer, all settled by the odd goal - 3-2 and 2-1 in 1989, 2-1 again in 2011 and two 2-1 wins for Scotland in 2019.

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Craig Levein
Former Scotland manager on BBC Sportsound

The feeling is good about the camp and the supporters, but it would be a travesty to come away from here without three points.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Hampden Park

It's not often you hear managers say it's a game that must be won, especially at the start of a campaign, but that's exactly what Steve Clarke did. Of course it is.

This opening Euro 2024 qualifying fixture provides the perfect platform to start on the right foot and give the Tartan Army belief that this can be a special group stage.

The squad looks strong and well balanced. There seems to be an absolute desire to be part of this Scotland set up and that helps drive the competition that has steadily grown under Steve Clarke.

Everything points to a positive afternoon.

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Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland at Hampden

Since that calamitous 3-0 reverse in Dublin last June, Steve Clarke's side has been on a good recent run, when it comes to competitive fixtures. Four matches, three wins and a draw, scored nine, conceded just two.

Scotland simply have to maintain that momentum at home to Cyprus today - we wouldn't want the bubble to burst with the little matter of Spain here on Tuesday night. If a top two finish in the group is to be remotely realistic, three points need to be taken this afternoon and, ideally, another one against the Spanish.

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It was 2006 the last time Scotland won their opening European Championship qualifying game. That was against Faroe Islands, at Celtic Park - a 6-0 win.

Aaron Hickey, starting today, was four years old at the time.

Here's the team from that day - how many can you name?

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Cyprus head coach Temuri Ketsbaia on Friday: "We will try to make the one step forward.

"We know we will not be favourites in any game we play in our group but that will give us more motivation to prove people wrong and we have to have that in our mind.

"I don't think they will underestimate us, they are not in a position to think this is a sure three points and we want to go out tomorrow and show we can play good football and get the result. We know it will be difficult.

"Some of our players haven't seen 50,000 fans in the stands but it is good for our players to see a full stadium. They don't want to play in an empty stadium so it will be motivational for my players."

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Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon is recovering from long-term injury and takes in today's match as a media pundit.

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Leanne Crichton
Ex-Scotland international on BBC Sportsound

When you have two games in quick succession, you need to utilise the squad. Ryan Jack, for me, probably doesn't play two games in quick succession. I don't see him featuring on Tuesday.

There's only seven players remaining from the first squad Clarke picked. There's been quite a significant overhaul in the playing squad, but there is real strength in depth.

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Scotland head coach Steve Clarke on Friday: "It has been a while since we had a good start in a European qualifying campaign.

"I think somebody said it was 2006 since the last time we won an opening qualifier so I have mentioned that. I think it is always good to get off to a fast start.

"Cyprus are a good team. They will be tough opponents but it is a game we have to win. When you are playing against lesser seeded teams you want to win the games and that's what we have to do."

Image source, SNS

Temuri Ketsbaia takes charge of his first European Championship qualifying campaign since taking charge of Cyprus last year.

The Georgian, once of Dundee, has been in charge for four games, two in the Nations League and two friendlies with two wins and two defeats so far.

Ketsbaia was a player at Newcastle when Scotland head coach Steve Clarke worked as a coach at St James' Park.

"We had a good relationship and good memories," Ketsbaia said yesterday.

"He (Clarke) has done a fantastic job for Scotland in the past years and qualified for the 2020 European Championship finals. He has a very good team, very good players and most of the players are playing in the Premier League bur we also have a good team and we hope we have a good result tomorrow."

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Liam McLeod
BBC Scotland commentator

Ioannis Kousolos, who scored at Hampden in 2019, and former Rangers and Dundee player Georgios Efrem are two of the faces familiar to Scotland fans in the Cyprus squad.

Likely to play key roles are centre-back Kostantinos Laifis of Standard Liege, who came up against Rangers in the Europa League three seasons ago; midfielder Grigoris Kastanos, whose Salernitana side drew 2-2 with Lewis Ferguson's Bologna in Serie A recently; and Omonia's teenage winger Loizos Loizou, who was a regular under Neil Lennon in the Europa League.

It's also worth keeping an eye on Sporting Kansas City striker Marinos Tzionis,who scored the only goal in one of Cyprus' rare, recent wins against Greece in the Nations League.

None of the Cypriots' three goalkeepers are first choice at club level.

Read more

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