Lambert looks all set for an emotional return to Dortmund

BERTI VOGTS is confident Paul Lambert will lead out Scotland in Dortmund on Wednesday. The captain had to sit out Saturday’s defeat of the Faroe Islands because of an ankle problem.

But Vogts expected him to be wearing the armband at the Westfalen Stadium - the ground where Lambert made his name as a player with Borussia Dortmund.

He said: "I think he will be able to play. He hasn't been training but he is back with all the other boys now."

Defeat in Dortmund would not be a disaster for the Scots provided they beat Lithuania in the final Euro 2004 qualifier next month and Iceland do not win in Germany on the same day.

But Vogts knows full well that a point in Dortmund would be a hugely valuable one.

He said: "We have nothing to lose in Germany. Maybe we can pick up one point. We will go over there with a lot of confidence."

Lambert was looking forward to an emotional return to the city where he picked up a Champions League winner's medal in 1997.

He made a tearful farewell after his final game before returning to Scotland with Celtic and held a banner of thanks to the fans that was big on sentiment if not accurate in its punctuation.

He said: "I know the stadium and how intimidating it is when you go over there. It is really hostile and we will have to play the way we did against Germany at Hampden, which is no mean feat. We will have to play really well to get something."

Few had expected the Scots to come away with that 1-1 draw in June and although the Germans have proved themselves to be less than invincible against the other smaller nations in the group, the Scots will once again be huge underdogs.

But Lambert believes their status as outsiders could be beneficial. He said: "In Dortmund the expectancy levels will be on the Germans and sometimes Scotland play a bit better for that."

Lambert is expected to win his 40th cap on his old stamping ground and was also looking forward to seeing old friends.

The win over the Faroes had been a laboured one, Vogts believes other results show Henrik Larsen's side are not a pushover for anyone. He said: "The Faroes are not a bad team. We scored three goals but the Germans only scored two goals against the Faroes.

"The first chance of the game was to the Faroes and it was a good save by Robert Douglas. I said to their coach they did very well."

Steven Pressley and Christian Dailly are back after one-match bans but Crawford is out of the game after picking up his second booking of the campaign.

The Dunfermline man's offence had been to put the ball in the back of the net after play had been stopped for offside.

West Ham's Don Hutchison, who scored the only goal of the game in Bremen in a 1999 friendly, could also return following injury so that would cushion the blow of Crawford's absence.

Vogts said: "There is a big chance for big Don. He scored the last time in Germany and will feel confident because of that. Crawford's booking was up to the referee but there were a lot of bad tackles on Stevie and I couldn't understand that but it was his decision. But Stevie Thompson did well when he came on and Neil McCann can also play in the centre so it is not a problem for us."

McCann had supplied the opening goal in the eighth minute and, after Julian Johnsson had headed in an equaliser, Paul Dickov made it 2-1 in first half stoppage time. James McFadden came off the bench to net a simple clincher in the 74th minute.