By Giancarlo Rinaldi

Spare a little sympathy for Italy boss Roberto Donadoni.

No matter what happens at Hampden on Saturday, he will get little credit in his home country.

Donadoni did not enjoy a good start to life as Italy coach

If the Azzurri get one of the two possible results they need to reach Euro 2008, it will be considered no more than what was expected from the reigning world champions.

Should they lose, however, he will almost certainly be adding the post of Italy head coach to the "previous employment" section on his CV.

Little wonder he has been carrying the look of a worried man throughout this qualification campaign.

In truth, the moment he took over the Italy post, it looked like it had the words "poisoned" and "chalice" written all over the job specification.

After the World Cup triumph under Marcello Lippi, most pundits reasoned, the only way was down - and early results did little to dissuade them from that view.

Defeat by France and a drab draw with Lithuania meant that Donadoni's honeymoon period was little more than a long weekend.

His team was criticised for a lack of focus, his tactics came under fire as being unsuitable for the players at his disposal and a list of his potential replacements was being drawn up before he even got his tracksuit warm.

MY SPORT: DEBATE I'm 90% sure it will be a draw. If we score Italy will go nuts on the attack paulpaul17

In fairness to the man who was a classy performer in his playing days with both AC Milan and Italy, he has not had a straightforward task since day one.

Much of the side that won the World Cup has either hung up its boots (Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta), been out through injury (Marco Materazzi and Mauro Camoranesi), or gone into apparently terminal decline (Alex Del Piero).

Even his attempts to bring new blood in - like Roma's talented Alberto Aquilani - have been jinxed.

Make no mistake, however, he still brings a strong squad to Scotland and one which, after its early setbacks, is in decent form.

Striker Luca Toni scored twice against Scotland in March

However, an insistence on an adventurous 4-3-3 formation, which was his hallmark as a club manager at Livorno and Genoa, has not always got the best out of the players available.

Nonetheless, with the in-form Bayern Munich striker, Luca Toni, in the line-up, this side always looks a lot more convincing than without him.

Preparations for the game have been overshadowed by problems with supporter violence once again across Italy at the weekend.

Indeed, the Azzurri will play with black armbands in tribute to the Lazio fan shot by a policeman on Sunday.

But the national team has a habit of performing well in times of trouble - just as it did at the last World Cup, which took place shortly after a huge match-rigging scandal.

It all makes for the usual intriguing mix of elements that always seems to proceed any outing for Italy these days.