SCOTTISH baggage handlers 1, Slovakian international footballers 0. Marek Hamsik and co. began their build-up for tonight’s crucial World Cup Group F qualifying match by being kept waiting for an hour at Glasgow Airport for their bags. They might have felt they were victims of a dirty tricks campaign if it wasn’t patiently explained to them at Hampden last night that such incidents aren’t exctly unheard of in this country. In fact, some wags even suggested that as they had only been detained for an additional 60 minutes this was in fact a pre-match boost for the visitors.

Bespectacled, tattoed, with that jet black mohican rising from his scalp, accompanied these days by a goatee beard, Hamsik is one of the more recognisable figures on planet football, even if the reliable Napoli midfielder bristled at the idea he had visited the barbers specially to put the fear of God into Scottish defenders. “I have had this haircut for five or six years, it is nothing new,” he explained. He was typically unflustered about the airport delays, because he only carried ‘hand luggage’.

Scotland’s midfielders and defenders will hope to cause more of an obstruction at Hampden tonight but that is easier said than done when it comes to Hamsik, a man whose 114 goals in ten years at Napoli to date is just one less than Diego Maradona achieved at the club. Napoli, a side to whom he has showed commendable loyalty considering the big clubs who have been sniffing around him for the best part of a decade, were leading Serie A with a perfect seven wins from seven when he departed for international duty.

Hamsik is no ordinary player. And this is no ordinary match for him, with the 30-year-old set to win his 100th cap for his country tonight. Only one man, Miroslav Karhan, has ever reached that milestone for a country which has only been back playing matches as an independent nation since 1994 and it is only a matter of time before his tally of 107 is overhauled by Hamsik.

The midfielder joins a list of world superstars to have graced Hampden, with varying degrees of success, in recent times which includes Robert Lewandowski, Thierry Henry, David Villa, Andriy Shevchenko, and pretty much the whole Germany World Cup winning team. And the really bad news is that he wants something to remember his trip to Glasgow by. Depending on Slovenia’s result against England, victory could be sufficient to take this side which have reached the last 16 of major tournaments twice in the last eight years directly into a play-off place.

“Obviously it will be nice to play but even nicer would be to achieve a nice result, something to remember,” said Hamsik. “I’m fit and really looking forward to the game.”

Scott Brown might not have made it but Hamsik was, as they say, up for the fight. “Scotland has been improving from game to game and they will also have the home advantage so they will want to make the most of it,” the 30-year-old said. “They play an aggressive, fighting type of football but recently we have played quite a lot of matches against teams from the British Isles so we know what to expect, I think we have what it takes to perform and get a good result against them.”

Hamsik is correct to point out the experience the Slovaks have against British sides - they lost to Wales and drew with England at Euro 2016, having played both Irelands in friendlies beforehand. Then, during this campaign, there was the 3-0 win against Scotland in Trnava, and two single-goal defeats to the English in which they hardly disgraced themselves.

They have the benefit of a largely settled line-up, although Matus Kozacik is likely to come in for Martin Dubravka in goal. Vastly experienced Martin Skrtel and Jan Durica - a veteran of the 5-0 win for Artmedia Bratislava against Gordon Strachan’s Celtic - are the central defensive pair, with former Rangers star Vladimir Weiss (now at Pedro Caixinha’s old side, Al Gharafa) and Greece-based Robert Mak the wide men. Stanislav Lobotka of Celta Vigo, who scored the shock opener against England at Wembley, is a real presence in a deeper midfield role.

A serious football team then, and one which according to Kozak has no intentions of coming to chisel out a point. “We won 3-0 after a very good performance so our players earned that result,” recalled Kozak of that meeting in Trnava last October. “Since then their coach [Strachan] has changed the philosophy, he has built around Celtic players, what he does is use five or six players from Celtic for his main line-up then adds the rest with players are in good form. They have good momentum now, good performances, and results, they are really keen but we can say the same about our team. That is why I am really looking forward to this game.

“We often come up against the football played in the British Isles, we had England and Wales in our Euro 2016 group, and prepared with matches against the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Football here is like a kind of religion so it is always good to play here.” A different kind of baggage you might say but this is a Slovakia team that may be able to handle most things that Scotland can throw at them.