The World Cup legend – famous for his Hand of God goal, followed by arguably the greatest goal ever scored, against England in Mexico in 1986 – will take his seat in the dug-out at Hampden tomorrow for his first match as Argentina boss and Commons admitted that he is excited at the prospect of coming up against Maradona.

But the 25-year-old believes that the Argentine's presence on the sidelines won't detract from the Scotland players' efforts on the pitch.

The Derby County midfielder, who is hoping that George Burley will hand him his fourth Scotland cap tomorrow night, said: "In our camp we are just focusing on putting on a good performance and hopefully getting a win. But I think the rest of the world will be keeping an eye on the little man on the sidelines.

"Everything he does will be watched very closely by the whole world. There is going to be a lot of press around his technical area taking pictures. He is a living legend, possibly one of the greatest footballers of all time.

"For his first game in charge, it is going to be quite an occasion."

Scotland assistant Terry Butcher was an integral part of the side who conceded that controversial handball goal in '86 and Commons revealed that the former England skipper would love to gain some revenge on the new Argentina boss.

Commons continued: "Obviously, there is a deep history and, just hearing a few words from Terry Butcher the other day, he is still a bit sour about what happened in 1986, and rightly so. But, by all accounts the Scots love Maradona, so it will be quite an atmosphere when he walks out at Hampden.

"I have seen the DVDs of the Hand of God, and if you go into any art gallery there are plenty of pictures of him going up with the hand. He's a hero in Argentina, and it was one of those occasions in World Cup history that you will never forget."

And Commons believes that the simple fact they have a living legend in their dugout in Glasgow tomorrow night will give the Argentineans a massive psychological boost. He said: "I don't know if Maradona has any previous managerial or coaching background. He just seems to have been thrown in. It's obviously something he wants to do and he is definitely the people's choice.

"It will have a massive effect on the Argentinean players to hear him giving the team talk and telling them how to go about their business. Any Argentinean side is going to be one of the best teams in the world. They are definitely in the top six in the world at the moment, so any team they put out there is going to be high quality.

"Messi is not going to be playing, which is disappointing, but he has probably done us a favour. We have Holland not so far away, and this is going to be a similar sort of test as the Dutch are also a classy side.

"This game is going to be about measuring yourself up against a side who are of that standard, so it is important we try and get together as a group, train well, and play well.

"We are fighting for places. There have been a few withdrawals and a few new faces have come in and we are all looking to impress and get in that starting 11 for the Holland game. So it's vitally important we approach this game as a real game and not a friendly and show George we can go to Holland and give them a game."

Scotland's record in friendlies is maybe not the best but Commons is certain that a good performance combined with a credible result will lead to a rise in confidence levels in a camp which yesterday saw further call-offs from Hibs' Steven Fletcher and former Easter Road striker Kenny Miller.

"If we do get a result it would overshadow the Maradona thing," he said. "People would remember that we gave Argentina a good game. It would give us a massive confidence boost and a lot more belief going into the game in Holland which, on paper, looks like being one of the hardest in the group but I know we won the last time against them here.

"There's a good atmosphere within the squad, even though we have had so many call-offs.

"We all want to show George that, even though we have lost key players, we can replace them and still be a good side.

"You need to be playing week in, week out for your club, keeping sharp, keeping fit and then hopefully your club form will carry straight into your national side.

"But you don't get the chance to play every week for your country, so it is important that in this game especially that we do go out and prove people wrong."

He added: "We looked at the table the other day and we still have a great chance of qualifying. We have three games which we are more than capable of winning.

"When we get Iceland and Macedonia back to Hampden, we are looking to pick up six points.

"If we can get a couple of points on the road as well, then we are in with a great shout of getting to the finals in South Africa."