Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is convinced that his world champion players will not be intimidated by Scotland when the teams meet Tuesday in European Championship qualifying, no matter how defensively the home side plays.
Scotland coach Craig Levein has drawn widespread criticism at home after employing an ultra-defensive formation for last week's 1-0 loss at the Czech Republic, packing the midfield with a team that did not include a specialist striker.
But while Del Bosque says that such spoiling tactics are understandable from a team without star players, he added that they will have little impact upon a team that this year added the World Cup to the European Championship it won in 2008.
"We will be very much prepared for whatever tactics Scotland adopts," Del Bosque said Monday. "At club level, our players come up against this sort of tactic week in week out. I think that we have sufficient alternative ways of playing to combat various defensive formations."
Del Bosque is likely to make just one change to the side that beat Lithuania 3-1 on Friday to open up a two-point lead at the top of the Group I standings, bringing Xabi Alonso into midfield alongside Sergio Busquets after he recovered from flu.
The restoration of the central midfield partnership that withstood constantly aggressive and cynical play by the Netherlands to win July's World Cup final should give Spain's attacking players a platform from which to attack at Hampden Park.
And Busquets is unconcerned at the prospect of playing as many as six Scottish midfielders, although Levein said his approach will be different this time.
"The fact that I do relish the physical side of the game does not mean that is how Spain is going to play," Busquets said. "We like to keep the ball, pass the ball and move the ball quickly. That I like to get stuck in is irrelevant. We will play in a Spain style."
That should at least mean some entertainment - if not much hope - for home fans who saw their team need seven minutes of injury time to beat visiting Liechtenstein 2-1 last month.
Del Bosque said the Czech Republic's home advantage and attacking midfielders meant that Levein was "almost obliged" to send out his team the way he did last week, but Scotland's newspapers have united in criticism of what they see as a defeatist attitude by a coach who has completed just 10 months of a 2 1/2-year contract.
"That's not my concern," said Levein, who added that he had not read any newspapers. "I've got a group of players who I believe I can work with and who everybody who watched against the Czech Republic realized they put everything they had into the match.
"For me, that's a great starting point and we move on."
Del Bosque said that victory for his side would leave the Czechs, Scotland and Lithuania fighting it out for second place in the group and a berth in the playoffs for the tournament in Ukraine and Poland.
He said Scotland would be in the weakest position of the trio, but Levein - whose country has not reached a major tournament since 1998 - is unfazed.
"Here's how it works: I got the job and the job is to try and qualify for the Euros," Levein said. "I'll do that the way I think is right."
