Lambert's warning sign in land of minnows

Phil Gordon talks to Scotland's midfielder on need to raise their game

Olympic Stadiums, Sydney's apart, may have all the uniqueness of McDonald's these days, but they can still bring out the citius, altius, fortius in a sportsman, as Paul Lambert knows only too well.

Olympic Stadiums, Sydney's apart, may have all the uniqueness of McDonald's these days, but they can still bring out the citius, altius, fortius in a sportsman, as Paul Lambert knows only too well.

Munich's Olympic Stadium will forever remain the Scot's field of dreams for the way it inspired his Borussia Dortmund colleagues to defeat Juventus in the Champions' League final three years ago. The Stadio Olimpico, on to which Lambert will walk on Saturday, is not quite in the class of any of its famous namesakes.

The grandly named ground in Serravalle, the largest town in the hillside principality that is San Marino, can only take 5,000 spectators. Yet Lambert will make sure none of his Scotland team-mates adopt a dismissive sneer when they begin their World Cup Group Six qualifying tie lest it inspires its hosts to a personal best.

San Marino are international football's whipping boys: they have never won a match. Yet in a week when expensive footballers, from Fiorentina to Chelsea, were licking their wounds after being humbled by poorer-paid adversaries, Lambert offers a salutary tale of why the big boys should never look down their noses at the minnows.

In the same season as that Olympian achievement with Dortmund, Lambert experienced what it was like to be beaten by the football equivalent of Eric the Eel. Dortmund's big-money stars, such as Andreas Möller and Karl-heinz Reidle, were embarrassed by a tiny amateur team who knocked them out of the German Cup at a venue not that dissimilar to the Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle.

"FC Tier," he said with instant recall last week, as if the memory had never left him. "They came from a small town where they erected special stands around a little ground to let everyone watch. There were about 15,000 and they beat us 2-1. Nine months later, we won the European Cup, but there are no easy games in football."

Those Scotland fans who travelled to San Marino in 1991 and 1995 may agree with that. They expected a glut of goals, but each time the 10-man defence of post office clerks and coach drivers kept them down to just two.

Lambert was not involved on either occasion, but he will settle for a repeat of that mundane scoreline on Saturday simply to ensure a peaceful preparation for the more testing encounter to be faced in Croatia four days later.

"It would be nice to win in a bit of style, but goals are not important," said the Celtic midfielder. "We need to win and get three points so we can think about Croatia in the right frame of mind."

Lambert is a Scot whose time in Germany has given him a Teutonic outlook, which is why his economic style is so crucial to Craig Brown's plans. "I have never understood the mentality of people who take pleasure in playing well butlosing," he said.

"It's nice to play well but the only thing that matters is winning. In the World Cup, teams always raise their game - remember San Marino scoring against England after seven seconds? It is up to the big team to raise their game to another level and not get caught out, because if you don't then you are in for a hard game."

Lambert found that out in midweek as Celtic were taken to extra-time by HJK Helsinki in the Uefa Cup before Chris Sutton's goal put them through. However, as Sutton's old club could testify, the fate might have been worse. "Look at Chelsea losing to a Swiss side, and Fiorentina to an Austrian side. That's why we have to do the job without fuss in San Marino."

At least this time Lambert will be able to influence the outcome. Four weeks ago, an injury ensured he was watching his television as Neil McCann's late goal allowed Scotland to squeeze past Latvia and open the campaign with a win. "It was not comfortable viewing, but I am not saying I would have made any difference," he said. "I played against Latvia in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers and they have improvedimmensely. It doesn't matterif you win badly, as long as you win."