SWEDEN V SCOTLAND:IT SEEMS entirely appropriate that the end of Allan McGregor's 16-month Scotland exile will come in a country where little is taxed more than alcohol. McGregor is the Scots' only definite starter for the friendly in Sweden this evening, Craig Gordon's injury allowing the Rangers goalkeeper to try to draw a line under the Boozegate scandal last Easter.

It was subsequent gestures while sitting on the substitutes’ bench against Iceland which led to McGregor being banned from international duty by the Scottish Football Association; needless to say, however, it will not only be cost which prevents the 28-year-old from enjoying even a small libation in Stockholm.

Craig Levein, the Scotland manager who has welcomed McGregor back into the national fold, has no fears about the player’s ability to handle any criticism which could be thrown his way from travelling members of the Tartan Army.

“Allan made a mistake, held his hands up and said he was wrong,” said Levein last night. “When I asked him to come back, he was delighted. The first thing he said was he desperately wanted to come back and play, which was great. If he does get a bit of stick – and I hope he doesn’t – he is more than capable of dealing with that. He has been fine, bubbly and good in training. He has made some great saves in training and has a smile on his face.”

McGregor can take heart from Levein’s first game in charge against the Czech Republic in March. Kris Boyd, who had refused to turn out in dark blue during George Burley’s tenure, returned on that occasion to warm applause.

“We both know what happened, everybody knows what happened,” said Levein regarding McGregor. “Him declaring himself ready to come back and play means there is a chance one or two might give him a bit of stick but we spoke about Boyd the last time, he came back and got a decent reception so I am hoping it’s the same. These guys have been under pressure loads of times in their careers and have handled it.”

McGregor now has an opportunity which goes beyond appeasing dissenting voices. Gordon’s broken arm means he will miss Scotland’s opening Euro 2012 qualifying matches, against Lithuania and Liechtenstein next month, and may be unavailable for meetings with the Czech Republic and Spain in October.

Levein rates the match he played for Scotland against Sweden in the 1990 World Cup finals as the finest of his career. The manager also reiterated his point that belligerence, rather than brilliance, will restore his country to such heights.

“Look back at the best Scotland performances over the last 20 years and they have been get-stuck-in jobs. I make no apology for that. When you are 40-odd in the rankings and want to qualify for things you either have to out-play teams, or out-stifle them. With all due respect to the players we have got, we can’t outplay Sweden just now. Make no bones about the fact we want to be solid and difficult to beat. We will try and build momentum and confidence from there. That won’t change, that will be the philosophy.”

Home interest stems from the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The striker – who said yesterday he will stay with Barcelona beyond this transfer window – had called time on his international career after Sweden’s failure to reach the World Cup finals but has been coaxed back.

SWEDEN (probable): Isaksson; Larsson, Mellberg, Majstorovic, Safari; Svensson, Kallstrom; Wilhelmsson, Toivonen, Bajrami; Ibrahimovic.

SCOTLAND (probable) McGregor; Whittaker, McManus, Berra, Wallace; Thomson; Robson, D Fletcher, Adam, McFadden; S Fletcher.