Aberdeen and Lithuania striker Andruis Velicka has urged his team-mates to show respect ahead of his country’s game against Scotland on Friday night.
The former Hearts and Rangers player has spent the last four years playing in Scottish football – bar one short stint in Norway with Viking Stavanger – and knows the game well enough to take the threat of players like Kenny Miller, and new Dons team-mate Paul Hartley, very seriously.
He said: “I’ve told my team-mates to expect a very tough and powerful game against Scotland.
“I know the team, and I know there are 9 or 10 players who play in the Premiership. They have a very good squad.
“But we are preparing as well and it’s the first game of our campaign, so we are looking forward to it.”
Along with fellow Hearts alumni such as Saulius Mikoliunas and Deividas Cesnauskis, Velicka is a name the Scotland players will have been told to keep a close eye on, as the Baltic state aim to cause an upset in front of their home fans.
However, in players like Sampdoria defenderMarius Stankevicius and Livorno forward Tomas Danilevicius,Lithuania have an arsenal of unknown quantities who have the capabilities to dent Scotland’s Euro 2012 qualification campaign at the first hurdle.
The home side, ranked 49 in the world, have failed to qualify for any major tournament but did record home victories against Austria and Serbia in their 2010 world cup qualifying group.
Lithuanian squad to face Scotland in Kaunas on September 3:
Goalkeepers:Paulius Grybauskas (PFC Neftci), Giedrius Arlauskis (FC Rubin Kazan), Zydrunas Karcemarskas (Gaziantepspor)
Defenders:Marius Stankevicius (Sampdoria), Arunas Klimavicius (FC Sibir Novosibirsk), Tadas Kijanskas (Jagiellonia Biaystok), Ramunas Radavicius (FK Ekranas), Andrius Skerla (Jagiellonia Biaystok), Marius Žaliukas (Heart of Midlothian)
Midfielders:Kestutis Ivaskevicius (Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC), Mindaugas Panka (Widzew Lodz), Deividas Cesnauskis (Aris Thessaloniki FC), Edgaras Cesnauskis (FC Dinamo Moskva), Deividas Semberas (PFC CSKA Moskva), Saulius Mikoliunas (FC Arsenal Kyiv), Vytautas Luksa (FC Arsenal Kyiv), Dominykas Galkevicius (FK Ekranas), Linas Pilibaitis (Gyori ETO FC).
Forwards:Darvydas Sernas (Widzew Lodz), Tomas Danilevicius (AS Livorno Calcio), Andrius Velicka (Rangers FC) Robertas Poskus (Inter Baki PIK), Ricardas Beniusis (FK Suduva).
