Mikoliunas is sure to start against Scotland on Friday

LITHUANIA v SCOTLAND - European Championship Qualifier
Venue: Darius Girenas Stadium, Kaunas Date: Friday, 3 September Kick-off: 1915 BST Coverage: BBC ONE Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sport website

Several members of the Lithuania squad may have something to prove when they go up against Scotland on Friday.

Hearts skipper Marius Zaliukas and Rangers forward Andrius Velicka, who has just joined Aberdeen on loan, know the opposition well.

Wingers Saulius Mikoliunas and Deividas Cesnauskis are familiar with the Scots, having spent time at Hearts.

Ricardas Beniusis, Linas Pilibaitis, Kestutis Ivaskevicius and Andrius Skerla have also played in Scotland.

Veteran defender Skerla was with Dunfermline for five years before moving on in 2005, while the former trio were bit-part players at Hearts as Tynecastle owner Vladimir Romanov made a policy of bringing in players from his adopted homeland.

Making Spain the favourites to win Group I, Skerla, who has been capped 76 times, told BBC Scotland: "You need to win your home games if you want to fight for second place.

"I had a good experience in Scotland and good memories of my time there.

"For all the players who were in Scotland they want to show that Lithuania is a better team.

"Lithuania, Scotland and Czech Republic will be going for second, so it's going to be very tough. We are not favourites from that three but we want to show our best."

Zaliukas, Mikoliunas and Cesnauskis are certain starters for the home side, with the latter duo supporting towering striker Tomas Danileviciu, who plays for Livorno in Italy.

And Mikoliunas may be more fired-up than most, having fallen foul of the Tartan Army on his last visit to Hampden.

He dived to win a penalty in a 3-1 defeat in September 2007 and was subsequently given a two-match ban on a misconduct charge after a Uefa review using video evidence.

Mikoliunas left Hearts after being widely jeered by opposition fans and admitted the abuse was hard to take.

"I knew it was going to happen, I know it's not a nice thing when players do that," he said. "I just took the criticism. But it made it a bit hard for me to stay in Scotland.

"I had bad treatment from the referees, I said to myself I needed a change.

"It's not acceptable to dive in all countries, but it happens."

The team is overseen by manager Raimondas Zutautas, who took up the post in February and turns 38 on Saturday.

It will be a first competitive match for both managers, although the nations have crossed swords on several occasions, this being the fourth consecutive European Championship qualifying campaign in which they have been drawn together.

Scotland's record in Lithuania reads: won one, lost one and drawn one.

Lithuania squad:

Goalkeepers: Paulius Grybauskas (PFC Neftci), Giedrius Arlauskis (FC Rubin Kazan), Zydrunas Karcemarskas (Gaziantepspor)
Defenders: Marius Stankevicius (Sampdoria), Arunas Klimavicius (FC Sibir Novosibirsk), Tadas Kijanskas (Jagiellonia Bia?ystok), Ramunas Radavicius (FK Ekranas), Andrius Skerla (Jagiellonia Bia?ystok), Marius Žaliukas (Heart of Midlothian)
Midfielders: Kestutis Ivaskevicius (Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC), Mindaugas Panka (Widzew Lodz), Deividas Cesnauskis (Aris Thessaloniki FC), Edgaras Cesnauskis (FC Dinamo Moskva), Deividas Semberas (PFC CSKA Moskva), Saulius Mikoliunas (FC Arsenal Kyiv), Vytautas Luksa (FC Arsenal Kyiv), Dominykas Galkevicius (FK Ekranas), Linas Pilibaitis (Gyori ETO FC).
Forwards: Darvydas Sernas (Widzew Lodz), Tomas Danilevicius (AS Livorno Calcio), Andrius Velicka (Rangers FC) Robertas Poskus (Inter Baki PIK), Ricardas Beniusis (FK Suduva).

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