Austria ace David Alaba has warned Scotland he’s desperate to tick playing at a World Cup Finals off his impressive bucket list.
The Bayern Munich ace has an incredible 26 honours to his name from a decade at the Allianz Arena including nine Bundesliga titles and two Champions League successes.
Alaba has also experienced the European Championships and will do so again this summer.
But his country is looking to end a 24-year absence from the World Cup exactly like Scotland who the Group F second seeds are likely to be vying with for a qualification spot along with Denmark.
And that’s bad news for Steve Clarke’s men as Alaba said: “It’s no secret that playing at a World Cup is a priority for me and for the country.
“We know we have the quality to achieve that.
“It’s really important to me because it’s a huge honour to play for my country.
“We want to do better than in 2016. I’m ambitious. Every game and every trophy matters to me.
“We know that Scotland has a good team with good individuals who play at the highest level in Europe especially those in the Premier League.
“It will be close. But we are here to win the game. This is our first goal and we try to be successful.
“We have analysed Scotland. They are compact but have good individual quality.
“We know the challenge that lies ahead for us at Hampden.”
Alaba, capped 76 times, confirmed last month that he is set to leave Bayern with La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid reportedly his preferred destination.
But with speculation surrounding his club future the 28-year-old said: “I’ve not paid any attention to it. I’m only thinking about the present and focusing on the national team.”
Austria arrive in Glasgow unbeaten in their last six matches and having won their Nations League group containing Norway, Romania and Northern Ireland last year.
Their preparations for this evening were hampered when at first it appeared the bulk of their top players could be stuck in Germany due to quarantine rules.
But boss Franco Foda breathed a sigh of relief when Germany removed Britain from a list of countries requiring a 14-day quarantine meaning he has a strong squad to choose from.
Definitely missing is the main goal threat Marko Arnautovic whose Chinese club Shanghai Port refused to release him for international duty.
FC Lorient forward Adrian Grbic could be called upon to fill the void having scored in the last three internationals.
Skipper Julian Baumgartlinger is also out injured as is defender Martin Hinteregger while Stefan Posch is back in Austria recovering from a bout of Covid.
But Foda said: “It’s good to finally be able to focus on the game. We have a strong squad.
“It’s our goal to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
“I do not want to look back at the past. We are focused on the present. We have developed really well over the last two years and managed to qualify for the Euros.
“We then topped our Nations League group to move up to Group A and achieved all our goals in doing so.
“But now we are focused on the World Cup qualifying and we are 100 per cent motivated.
“We know we can beat anybody on our day.
“I have decided who I will play other than maybe one or two.
“We’ve not had much time to prepare - two days only - but as a team we have played a lot together and are ready.”
