BBC Sport Scotland commentator Liam McLeod assesses what Scotland can expect from Poland in Thursday's Nations League opener.
While Scotland’s European Championship was firmly in the anti-climactic category, the same could be said for their first Nations League opponents.
Experienced coach Fernando Santos paid with his job and was replaced with former under-21 coach Probierz.This was a side that had reached the knock-out stages of the 2022 World Cup, squeezing out Mexico by a single goal. Despite dropping four points to Gordon Strachan’s men across the group, Poland qualified automatically behind Germany and would go all the way to the quarter-finals of the tournament, their best return at a major finals since finishing third at the World Cup in Spain in 1982.
The now 36-year-old striker has scored four goals in four games for Barcelona already this season, but he is in the autumn of his career now and may well have played at his final major tournament, 16 years after he made his debut for his country. Meanwhile, Piotr Zielinski was one of the main driving forces behind Napoli’s long-awaited Serie A title in 2023 - the midfielder has now moved to current champions Internazionale.
He has already grabbed eight goals in nine appearances for club side Istanbul Basaksehir this season.
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