THE prospect of ever catching his erstwhile hero may seem unlikely but Craig Gordon will not stint in trying. Two days on from Gianluigi Buffon chalking up his 1000th career appearance, the man who used to cut off the sleeves of his goalkeeping shirts in homage will, almost certainly, line up for his 46th Scotland cap. It is the latest episode of an international career that began some 13 years ago amid promise and potential but has yet to reach the heights the then 21 year-old must have dreamed of.

Buffon, at 39 years old, is still motivated by the possibility of one day landing the Champions League medal that has somehow eluded him this far, and Gordon, five years his junior, is similarly driven by a desire to hit his own personal targets. Looking to atone for the years spent stricken with injury, the Celtic goalkeeper has been ticking off item after time on his bucket list over the past few years including winning the Scottish title and appearing in the Champions League.

Having featured against England in Scotland’s previous game in November for his first competitive start in seven years, the expectation is that Gordon will again be between the posts for this evening’s encounter with Slovenia. Should that be the case then he will take a step closer to becoming only the third Scottish goalkeeper, after Jim Leighton and Alan Rough, to gain 50 caps for his country.

“That was always one of the long-term goals, to [play competitively for Scotland again],” he admitted. “That was a big focus of what I wanted to achieve coming back [from injury]. There were a lot of steps between then and doing that. But certainly that was the one I thought, if I did get back playing and playing well for a big team, getting noticed by that national team would kind of put [the injury] behind me and get me back to where I felt I was before. So mentally that was a big thing for me to get chosen to play a competitive game again.

“It was another box ticked. Then, when you get there, you reassess it and go again. The next thing would be to stay there, to try and get to 50 caps and try and go beyond that and get as many as I possibly can. That was the aim, and now I have more to aim at.”

That callow youth who made his debut for Scotland in a friendly against Trinidad & Tobago back in 2004 had hoped, maybe expected, to have featured in an international tournament by now. With a place at next year’s World Cup finals in Russia looking increasingly slender, Scotland’s absence from football’s major jamborees looks set to slide into a third decade.

Gordon, though, is not without hope. His recent decision to extend his Celtic contract until 2020 spoke to a desire to keep playing for as long as he physically can and hopes that will involve international as well as club football.

"My debut wasn't really that long after we had qualified,” he recalled. “That's how long I have been playing! I didn't think we'd go this long without making one.

“We have definitely had our chances. There have been games where we should have done better. We have put ourselves in good positions in groups at times and not managed to get over the line. We can't blame anybody other than ourselves.

“There are games against teams that we should have taken more points from and didn't do it. You can point to a few individual games but overall we have just not managed to get there for a number of reasons.

“It obviously depends on my body but I want to play for my club and country for as long as I can. If I can steer clear of injuries and be able to play that many games, I will do that.

"It's not easy as there are so many fixtures and you don't get time off, but yeah, that's what I want to do. Guys like Buffon and Shay Given have managed to do it. Buffon is now on the 1000-game mark. I have a long way to go to catch that!

"You can keep playing if you stay clear of serious injuries. Given picked up a few towards the end but he was still in that Irish team. He played almost every game, friendlies and competitive, and that's what I want to do. It would be good to get back the years that I lost as you are a long time retired. I had a taste of that when I was out and I don't want to experience it again. So I have no intention of retiring from Scotland anytime soon.”