You could say that Scotland are suffering from the price of success.

One win in 14 games - a paltry friendly encounter against Gibraltar to act as a Euro 2024 warm-up - is a tough run to dress up, mind you. 

With another two games on the immediate horizon against two of Europe's best nations is the kind of test that we Scots yearned for five years ago when Steve Clarke took over. 

Regularly competing against the likes of Israel, Moldova and the likes in the lower echelons of the Nations League, there appetite was there for the country to push on as much as possible.

Those calls have been answered with back-to-back European Championships, and eventual promotion to section A1 of the Nations League. 

Scotland have face England, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Germany and Portugal all within the last 13 months.

This weekend, Croatia will be added to that ever-growing list of elite football talent, with a second game against the Portuguese taking place on Tuesday evening at Hampden.

“It’s a nice price to pay, when you have matches of this calibre when you get to the highest level in the Nations League," Clarke insisted. “Obviously, we’ve done something right to be here.

"We’re now finding a level that’s a little bit more difficult for us. We have to meet that challenge head on.

“I think if we do that we come out of the other side, a better group, a better understanding of what we need to do at this level to get positive results.

“We have so many injuries that we are giving opportunities to other players and if they’re given that opportunity, then it’s down to them to grab that chance with both hands.”

Clarke summed up the national team's form over the last year or so as "horrible". 

There probably aren't many better ways to put it. 

The squad looks weak in its current state, with numerous injuries across the team giving it a severely depleted look. It's easy to understand why the general mood around the A squad is that of fatigue and drowsiness. 

John McGinn out, Jack Hendry out, Scott McKenna out, James Forrest out - that's before you throw in longer-term absentees Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson. 

With Angus Gunn also now on the treatment table, Clarke is having to hang his hat on 41-year-old Hearts No.1 Craig Gordon to, most likely, keep some world class talents at bay.

In Zagreb for Saturday evening's game, Clarke addressed the the current situation at the Stadion Maksimir.

The 61-year-old said: “It’s horrible. Not winning games is horrible.

“I have to try and look at the big picture. I’m not saying we’re using this campaign to prepare for the next qualifying campaign.

“There is an element of that where we can use these matches to try and prepare ourselves, because the ultimate aim for me as head coach, I have already spoke about it, I would love to go to World Cup finals with my country. That’s the challenge that I’m focused on.

“I’m not driven by stats. We have played a lot of good opponents, the results haven’t been what we wanted in terms of victories.

“We haven’t regressed. I don’t think we’ve gone backwards and we have always worked hard to try to move forward.

“If we didn’t think we could compete we would have stayed at home, hopefully we take some points home. We have a good squad.

“The injuries are there for everyone to see. James is not with us. He felt something in training the other day so we decided to leave him at home to be assessed and his club will decide if we pick him up when we get back.

“I don’t think there’s too much point harping on about the injuries.

“I always try to focus on the players that here, that we could work with to kick start the campaign.

“Performances have to be good. If the performance is good, then we have an opportunity to hopefully pick some points up.”

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One of the player who will be keen to take more opportunities in a Scotland shirt is Anthony Ralston.

The Celtic defender will almost certainly start at right-back for the Scots in the Croatian capital. It's a challenge he's relishing. 

“They are a quality side," 25-year-old said. "When you’re in this position, playing against these top teams, it’s really where you want to be playing your football and I am sure all the boys will say the same.

“It’s something I love doing, testing myself at the highest level against the highest calibre players in the game and it will be the same tomorrow night.

“It can be difficult, but I love the challenges of playing against top opposition, because it only makes me better and you come away learning things. I just want to enjoy and learn from it and that’s my aim.

“Everybody knows who he (Modric) is and he has been a top quality player for many years now.

“But it is important we don’t look just at individuals or the team, but it is also about what we can do to affect the game.

“But we are well aware of the quality we are coming up against, especially in him, but it is about bringing our game to it as a team.”