Ivanauskas warns Scotland will face a cauldron of noise

UKRAINE'S Olympic Stadium has taken on many guises through the years, from Republican Stadium to Kiev Central Stadium to its present title, Olympic National Sport Complex. Whether it can become the latest in a long list of victorious locations for Scotland may be down to how well Steven Pressley and Co combat the partisan locals.

The venue for Wednesday's European Championship qualifying tie accommodates 83,160 people, hardly any of whom could be termed reserved. Since the stadium's opening in 1948, many a celebrated club side and national team have perished in the Ukrainian capital, and Walter Smith and his players will be confronting anything from 50,000 natives upwards when they step into the massive bowl that is set amongst the streets of Velyka Vasylkivska, Zhylianska and Volodymyrska.

Scotland arrived in Kiev yesterday on the crest of possibly the highest wave of national euphoria since 1978. Smith has done more than restore footballing pride within the greatest small country in the world, he's permitted us the ability to dream again. And that's where the Euro 2008 finals come in.

If the Scots are to augment the progress made during three opening Group B victories over the Faroe Islands, Lithuania and, most alluring of all, France, then the minimum of a point tomorrow evening would come in extremely useful.

Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas will detach himself from Edinburgh-derby preparations to recline on his sofa and take in Scotland's visit to the imposing stadium where he first dipped a toe into international waters way back in 1988. As a burgeoning striker with Zalgiris Vilnius, Ivanauskas achieved the first of five caps for the former Soviet Union in their opening qualifying match for the 1990 World Cup in Kiev.

Under the tutelage of legendary Russian coach Valeri Lobanovsky, the Soviets had been European Championship finalists four months previously, as well as Olympic Games gold medallists. Back then, the ground that was to become his international home for a period was known as the Republican VI Lenin Stadium in honour of the former Russian communist politician. However it was no less intimidating for opponents.

"I played there many times," recalls Ivanauskas. "It's a very big stadium and I played in front of 100,000 supporters there, although now the capacity is less [since individual seats were installed].

"The atmosphere is great. I remember we played in the Soviet team that was coached by Lobanovsky and he was a big figure in the former Soviet Union. He was a legend who took them to the final of the European Championships and then qualified for the World Cup. My first game for the USSR was a 2-0 win against Austria.

"Tomorrow will be a very difficult game for Scotland because Ukraine will be coming off the back of defeat in Italy and will need to get a result. It will be noisy and perhaps hostile but I think the Scottish players can enjoy this." After the collapse of the USSR, Ivanauskas picked up a further 28 caps for Lithuania, scoring eight goals and earning four national player of the year awards. He never played for the temporarily-gathered Commonwealth of Independent States [CIS], but international football is bestowed upon so few that simply representing two different nations is something of a rarity.

One of Ivanauskas' charges, Robbie Neilson, will also have cause to forever regard Kiev's Olympic Stadium with fondness if he is chosen by Smith to replace the suspended Christian Dailly at right-back tomorrow. The 26-year-old is hoping for his first Scotland cap and couldn't have picked a more intimidating arena.

"With Christian Dailly out there is an opening there," says Hearts assistant coach, John McGlynn. "It's great for Robbie to be with the squad and have that chance, but Walter Smith has done everything right so far so when it comes to team selections I think we'll just trust him."

Smith himself is remaining typically realistic ahead of kick-off. "I never aimed at specific points from these three games," he said. "We were trying to get what we can but Ukraine is another huge game for us. I don't think we'll have a fear going there. Confidence is high after France, but our boys have to exhaust themselves to get that sort of result."

Their ear-drums are certain to be exercised fully in the Olympic Stadium, a ground that proved particularly profitable for the USSR back in the late 1980s. Following Ivanauskas' debut, they went on to top their qualifying section for the 1990 World Cup. Now they must halt Scotland in their tracks as outright qualification for Euro 2008 becomes evermore realistic for the Tartan Army.