Darijo Srna urges Croatian caution against Scotland

The Group A favourites will face Gordon Strachan’s men on Friday in Zagreb as overwhelming favourites against a depleted Scottish side.

Bottom of the group and out of the World Cup, Croats have queued up to kick the Scots when they are very much down.

A succession of players, pundits, managers and former coaches have lined up to tell Scotland they are wasting their time even turning up to the Maksimir Stadium.

However, vastly experienced Croatian captain Srna has warned the home fans and his team mates to respect the Scots. The Shakhtar Donetsk star said: “Caution, caution, caution. That’s what should be in our minds until the match starts.

“While I accept we will go out there as absolute favourites for this match, it does not mean it will be easy. Remember, we are also missing two or three very important players for the game.

“We need our fans to help us score a goal, but they should be patient with us. We will do everything to get the win, but we need time.

“Croatia have never beaten Scotland so we have to remember that. But we had never won in Skopje either and we managed to beat Macedonia there. There is a first time for everything.

“We know we have to win and we will attack from the first minute.”

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Spaniard David Fernandez Borbalan will take charge of Friday night’s match. The 40-year-old businessman from Almeria was the man in the middle of Celtic’s Europa League play-off defeat to Swiss side Sion two years ago when he sent-off defender Daniel Majstorovic after just two minutes of an eventual 3-1 defeat.