If his pre-match comments are anything to go by, Robert Lewandowski will be heading to Hampden for tonight’s penultimate European Championship qualifiers against Scotland with the band-aid in his kit-bag. Scotland can only hope that as Poland leave the national stadium they have sufficiently applied the sticking plaster onto their visitors’ aspirations of making it to France this summer.

Lewandowski, who has netted 10 goals for Poland in this qualifying campaign, appears to carry the scars of a bruising night against Gordon Greer in Warsaw when Gordon Strachan’s side left with a 2-2 draw and Lewandowski’s name stayed off the scoresheet. While the build-up to tonight’s game has been dominated by the striker’s less than subtle appeal to tonight’s Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai for protection, Scott Brown, the Scotland captain, has offered something of a rebuke to Lewandowski about the physical nature he anticipates this evening.

“I think they’ve created more fouls and had more yellow cards than us,” said Brown. “That speaks for itself. Is it music to our ears to hear them still talking about it? They are just trying to get the referee on their side. They are trying to make it all about Lewandowski but it’s a team game and hopefully our team is better than theirs on the day. We are not going to let them have too much time on the ball and create chances.”

Lewandowski’s club form for Bayern Munich this season has captured the headlines, as five goals in nine minutes in the Bundesliga tends to do. However, his performances in Group D for his country have not been quite so dramatic; six against whipping boys Gibraltar, three against Georgia and one against Germany. Scotland’s challenge lies in ensuring he has nothing to crow about tonight.

For Brown, the hope is that Poland’s over-reliance on Lewandowski is to Scotland’s advantage, although the midfielder was quick to point out that Scotland too have players who can make a difference rather than just the perennial focus on the clichéd fighting spirit mantra.

“There is a lot that we need to worry about but they have a lot that they need to worry about as well,” insisted Brown. “We have some top quality players and we are technically as good as anyone in this group. We have showed that in spells but we need to do it over 90 minutes now.

“We have Shaun Maloney who is just as good on a free-kick as anyone there is. We have Steven Fletcher who can score goals, we have Steven Naismith who works hard and creates more than most people in the Premier League and who can score a hat-trick against Chelsea. So you can’t tell me that we don’t have good individuals – we have some great individuals but the thing about us is that we have a great core as well. “

The Poles are within touching distance of France, with a current six point lead over Scotland. As such, tonight’s game is hugely significant in determining whether or not Strachan’s side can force a late play-off spot, although the many permutations of the group are too numerous and complex to list.

Having started the campaign brightly, Scotland have slipped in recent games and have just one point from a possible nine to show for recent endeavours. Brown was quick to dismiss that, quickly and insistently brushing the statistic aside as “negative”, but if there is to be a final sprint to the finish line rather than a stagger, Scotland need to recapture their belief as well as their composure.

In many ways the various aspects of how the group can finish has simplified things for Scotland; they need to come away from tonight’s game with three points. That Poland have not beaten them so far in the campaign is a positive psychological advantage for the Scots to take into Hampden and Brown has urged his colleagues to leave nothing in the dressing room as Strachan’s side launch a late rally.

“This is it,” said Brown. “This is the big push and we need to make sure we give 100 per cent, every single player in our team, the subs who come on, everyone in the background too. We all need to be at our best. We would take the worst performance if it gets us the three points. But if it takes our best performance then we will need to do that. Whatever it takes, we need to do it.

“We want to win. We are at home and we believe we can do it. We’ve gone over there and we have won and drawn so hopefully we can keep that going. I don’t know if we need the three points or not but if we get three points it puts us in a good place. It has been the whole time since I’ve been a Scotland player and playing qualifiers that we’ve not made any World Cups of European Championships. There’s a lot of weight on our shoulders but over the next few weeks hopefully we can relieve that pressure.”

The chatter has already started about the future of Strachan, irrespective of how the dust settles this weekend and Brown was unequivocal in his desire to see his former club boss remain at the forefront of the national team as Scotland prepare for a daunting 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

“That’s the kind of manager we need,” maintained Brown. “He is the man for the job. He has taken us from having no chance of qualifying for a major finals to being within two games of qualifying - if we do qualify he will go down in history as a legend.”

He is the only legend that Hampden hope to speak of this evening.