Gordon growing in stature ahead of Italy challenge

The Heart of Midlothian goalkeeper, who has been outstanding in his club's surge to the Scottish Premier League summit, cites his Juventus counterpart as his "ultimate role model". As the build-up to tomorrow's Group Five confrontation with Italy intensifies, Gordon's only disappointment is that Buffon will be absent because of injury.

In March, when Scotland lost 2-0 to Italy in Milan, he was vying with David Marshall for the status of No 2 keeper behind Rab Douglas in the national side. Douglas was injured during the first half at San Siro, giving Gordon an opportunity he has seized with both gloves.

"I didn't expect to be involved that night and I wasn't nervous because it all happened so quickly," Gordon, 22, said at the Scots' Loch Lomond base. "There was so much going on that it was only afterwards that it hit home that I had played in one of the world's greatest stadiums."

Like Douglas, Gordon was beaten by a set-piece special from Andrea Pirlo. "There's not a lot you can do about Pirlo except hope for the best: get your wall right and hope he misses one sooner or later," he said. "I've studied videos of his free-kicks this week and I see how I should set up the wall. But against us, he put one in each corner, so he has both sides in his locker."

The defeat by Italy came on Walter Smith's debut as successor to Berti Vogts but the recovery in morale, which began with a strong second-half performance, has gathered momentum. "We took a lift from that," Gordon said. "It showed the resilience in the squad."

He has shown the same quality along the road to establish himself as Smith's first choice. At the age of 15 - having become a goalkeeper "because I couldn't run, it's too much effort" - Gordon stood only 5ft 9in and feared Hearts would not take him on because of his size. "They had other bigger, stronger keepers so I was almost looking for another club.

"It was a difficult stage and I had offers from lower-league clubs. One of the guys ahead of me was Jamie Hughes - and he's playing junior football now.

"It was frustrating but I just worked on making sure that my technique was as good as it could be, and everything would take care of itself." Now a Buffon-sized 6ft 4in, Gordon is ready to tackle the tall order of defying the full force of Italy.