GIORGI Loria is not particularly well-known outside of Greece and his native Georgia so if that status has changed by this time next week then there is every chance Scotland’s Euro 2016 aspirations have taken a dunt as a result.

Loria has been the Georgian national team’s first-choice goal- keeper for around five years now. It has not always been the easiest of jobs. In this qualifying campaign alone Georgia have shipped 13 goals, although Loria at least can’t be held culpable for Aiden McGeady’s late winner for the Republic of Ireland in the opening game having gone off injured at half-time. But he was front and centre for the rest. Poland fired four past him both home and away, although he restricted the might of Germany to just two in Tbilisi. There was also the rare pleasure of a clean sheet in Faro against Gibraltar.

Perhaps the most frustrating outing, though, came at Ibrox last October when the 29-year-old was beaten only by a Shaun Maloney shot that cannoned off his body and on to the leg of defender Akaki Khubutia before rolling into the net. Both the freakish nature of the goal conceded plus the fact they were able to thwart Scotland for the rest of the match – and could feasibly have taken a draw – offer hope to Loria ahead of the re-match with Gordon Strachan’s side on Friday. Qualifying for next summer’s finals in France is now beyond Georgia but that does not mean they can’t land potentially fatal blows on others. A clean sheet or some significant saves against Scotland would do Loria’s profile no harm at all.

“This is a very tough game for us but we have the advantage this time that we are playing at home,” he said. “The Dinamo Arena is a crucial stadium for us and many big teams, for example France and Croatia, have fallen down there in the past. So I should say it will be like a war but we will play football. We must not lose the fight and we must control the ball. And if we do that we have a chance of success.

“I think Scotland were lucky the last time, especially to score a goal like they did. As a goalkeeper these are the worst ones to lose. But I think if it wasn’t for that we would have drawn in Glasgow. We did not deserve to lose that match. Scotland are a good side with an excellent head coach. They will play hard football and we expect crosses, physical play and lots of running. But we will be ready for them.”

Scotland have struggled in Tbilisi before. A previously promising journey towards Euro 2008 came unstuck not against France, Italy or Ukraine – talk about a group of death – but at the hands of a Georgian side supposedly so weakened they were forced to hand a debut to an untried 17-year-old goalkeeper. Loria was not in the international fold at that point but remembers the evening well.

“Nobody expected us to win that day,” he said. “Scotland were a very strong side in those days. There was a big celebration in Tbilisi that evening. The whole country was very happy.”

Georgian football is enduring what could be euphemistically described as a transitional phase. Temuri Ketsbaia, he with the reputation for booting advertising boards by way of celebration, has stepped down as national team manager since that loss in Glasgow and was replaced by Kakhaber Tskhadadze, the one-time Manchester City defender. That has introduced a degree of upheaval but the Georgians’ proud trait of being a nation of technically-gifted players – think of the subtle touches of Shota Arveladze or the mazy dribbles of Georgi Kinkladze – is immovable.

“Our new coach has come in and he has totally different tactics,” Loria said. “We have not had a lot of time to work with him so we are still trying to get used to what he wants to do. But the Georgian way does not change. It is a very technical style and we will also try to play that way against Scotland.”

Well-worn has been the journey of Georgians into Scottish football, with the aforementioned Ketsbaia and Arveladze also joined by Georgi Nemsadze and Zurab Khizanishvili during the previous decade. Loria, who has just left Olympiacos after previously playing in Greece for OFI Crete, had a chance to come to Britain only for work permit problems to stall his arrival.

Instead, he will settle for playing against Scottish players on the international front and is looking forward to featuring under the Friday night lights of Tbilisi. “I feel there is no team we cannot beat, especially at home,” he said. “I am not saying we will definitely do it but we always feel we have a chance.”