MATT Ritchie has, as anyone who watched Scotland’s penultimate Euro 2016 qualifier against Poland at Hampden this season will testify, a sweet left foot.

He netted a sensational long-range strike in that Group D match back in October to cancel out an early Robert Lewandowski effort and haul the national team back in the game.

Yet, the Bournemouth winger also has something of a sweet tooth which earlier in his career was preventing him from fulfilling his considerable potential.

His weakness for confectionary and chocolate was, though, identified and addressed during his time at Swindon Town by his manager Paolo Di Canio. The volatile Italian, a former Celtic forward, is renowned for demanding that his players eat a healthy diet and follow a strict fitness regime and he changed Ritchie's eating habits.

As he prepares to play in a friendly match for Scotland against the Azzurri in Malta this Sunday, it is fair to say that Ritchie appreciates the Italian methods why they are such a successful footballing nation.

“Paolo di Canio changed my mentality,” he said. “He made me realise if you put your work in you will succeed. He gave me more belief. When I worked with him I was the fittest I’ve been and haven’t looked back.

“I always felt I wasn’t very athletic as a young lad. I was more about technical ability, but he helped improve my fitness. I was 21 when I started working with him. I didn’t realise how important diet was or that I could get to the level of fitness I could with him.

“We trained seven days a week and had a proper diet. I’ve taken that with me in the rest of my career. You don’t know how important it is not to eat sweets. It’s just small things like that. You’re not educated on that at school.

“I had a sweet tooth when I was a teenager and I didn’t know until I was 21 that it might be affecting my performance. I would eat sweets on the way to the game thinking it would give me energy. When you stop doing something and see the instant results then it’s easy to give them up.

“I indulge now and then but very rarely. Paolo instilled the Italian mentality. There was no butter, tomato ketchup or milk in tea and coffee. You learn a lot about why these things are important and when someone like Paolo di Canio is telling you not to do it then you listen."

Ritchie added: “He wasn’t telling you to do anything that he didn’t do himself as a player. He’s had a big influence on my career. Don’t get me wrong, he was mad! I speak to Paolo now and again by text. I’m sure he’ll be happy for me. We had a great relationship when I was at Swindon.

“The higher up you go the more you get educated. We’re lucky at Bournemouth where you have nutritionists, psychologists and diet plans. I always believed I had enough ability, but he got me to the peak fitness that I didn’t know I could reach."

Ritchie, who was named the Scottish Football Writers International Player of the Year this season, is excited at the prospect of facing Italy this weekend before they head off to the Euro 2016 finals.

The 26-year-old will be treating the double header against Italy in Malta on Saturday and then France in Metz the following Sunday seriously as he believes they will be important matches ahead of Scotland’s Russia 2018 qualifying campaign.

“I’ve always admired them,” he said. “They’ve got top players. Any team with that amount of quality is going to be a team you admire. Andrea Pirlo is a player everyone has watched for many years and it’s probably good news he’s not included, but I’m sure there will be another superstar in central midfield.

“To play international football is fantastic, but you couldn’t have asked for two better games than Italy and France.The Italy game in particular is very important because it’s in Malta who we play in World Cup qualifiers in September.

“It’s a big step in our preparation. We’ll get to see the stadium, training ground and the hotel so when we return we’ll know our surroundings. And it’s good to test yourself against top teams, top players. We’ll have to treat these games as seriously as qualifiers because we want to build momentum.”

Ritchie was in the Bournemouth side whose final Premier League match against Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier this month was postponed due to a bomb scare. The match was replayed a few days later and his side ended up losing 3-1. However, the eight-times capped midfielder was still encouraged at how his season went at club level.

“We were warming up at Old Trafford and five minutes before we were due to go into the dressing room to get ready the referee said there was a bomb scare,” he said. The news got round the lads and we had to evacuate the pitch. It was worrying in the dressing room but it was sorted quite quickly.

“The first season in the Premier League has been a real eye opener playing against the best players in the world. The longer the season went on we really grew into ourselves as a team and as individuals and believed we could compete.

“It was a great achievement to stay in the top flight and it shows with the quality of the teams that went down. It is the toughest league and to stay in it was a great achievement. Hopefully we can build on that.”