Ukraine icon hits back at fitness fears ahead of Scotland clash as Ruslan Malinovsky reveals special prep work

Ultimate Ukraine football icon Oleg Blokhin has urged players to block out the noise over criticism over their World Cup preparation before they face Scotland.

Steve Clarke 's side finally face the war-torn nation on Wednesday at Hampden, but the Ukrainians have not played a competitive match for eight months.

They have spent the past month at a training base in Slovenia and played three friendly matches against Borussia Monchengladbach, Rijeka and Empoli.

But they have heavily criticised by a number of Ukrainian football personalities and ex-managers for failing to arrange a final friendly match this week, despite offers to play six different clubs and countries.

Manager Oleksandr Petrakov instead played a friendly match between the two teams in his squad and claimed the decision was on him.

Blokhin remains the only Ukrainian player to have won the Ballon d'Or and managed his country twice. He is the all-time top goalscorer record for both Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet Union, as well as being the overall top goalscorer in the history of the Soviet leagues.

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And the 69-year-old, who was manager of Ukraine in their only World Cup appearance in 2006 and also took charge at Euro 2012, reckons they can