Robert Lewandowski’s nickname translates from the German as Goal Monster but Grant Hanley insists Scotland won’t be scared of him.
Lewandowski is the hottest striker in the world at the world at the moment, having fired home 12 goals in four matches for his club Bayern Munich.
The 27-year-old frontman’s latest achievement was a double against former side Borussia Dortmund in Germany’s biggest club fixture at the weekend.
Now the Tor-Monster is determined to frighten the Scots by switching to international football and shooting his country Poland to victory at Hampden on Thursday night an outcome that would ensure Gordon Strachan’s side could not qualify for the Euro 2016 finals in France next summer.
However, if Hanley is worried about the threat posed by Lewandowski then he made a good job of hiding it as the national team met up for training at their Mar Hall base yesterday.
The Blackburn Rovers central defender said: “He is a top quality striker and his record in the last few games is pretty unbelievable.
“It is international football so you are going to come up against people like Lewandowski.
“It is no surprise that you come up against a player on the kind of scoring streak he is on at the moment.
“It is as much about stopping the supply to him as it is just stopping him.
“We are at home, with a full house at Hampden, so we will be focused on our job and what we can do to beat them.
“We have good quality players ourselves, so we will be focusing on what we can do to score goals at the other end and win the game.
“It’s not all about Lewandowski.
“Of course, you look at him and analyse him because you want to know what you are going to be up against.
“You do that no matter what opposition you are facing, whatever your position is.
“It’s just something we have to deal with.
“I think we can take confidence from the last game against Poland. He didn’t score against us that night.”
Instead of being scared of such an in-form superstar, Hanley seems excited about the challenge that awaits him and the other Scotland defenders.
“I will try to enjoy it and relish it,” he said.
“That’s why you play football – you want to test yourself against the best.
“I have played against a lot of top strikers in the English Premier League and also while playing for Scotland but Lewandowski would be right up there.
“At the moment, his record shows he is definitely one of the best so we will look to enjoy playing against him.
“You can’t back off him, though, or give him too much respect.”
Hanley was asked – only slightly tongue-in-cheek if, because of the robust type of defender he is, whether he perhaps fancied letting Lewandowski know he was in a physical battle on Thursday.
He replied: “I don’t know what you’re talking about!
“I would probably say that’s right a wee bit. That’s maybe part of my game.
“But in international football you are up against players of good quality so it’s not just about going out there, trying to run after them and kick them.
“You have to be clever.
“A lot of thought has to go into what you are doing.
“There are times in the game when you might have to dive in, but players like that are clever enough and sharp enough to see when you are coming.”
Hanley admitted that failure to qualify for France would be a nightmare for the Scots, especially after the campaign had seemed so promising not so long ago.
He added: “It would be agony it we fall short at this stage of the campaign so we will be going all out to put on a good performance and get a win.
“I am still confident we can get to the finals there is no doubting that.
“We can only control what we can control and that means putting in a performance against Poland.
“The lads have been brilliant and we can certainly take positives so far.
“However, we are not reflecting on the campaign just yet because we have a big game on Thursday night.”