Gordon Strachan believes his Scotland players should be "excited" rather than apprehensive about facing two of the best teams in international football.

Scotland are in Malta to face Italy in a friendly match on Sunday evening, with the Dark Blues also travelling to Metz to come up against France next week.

The rest of the Home Nations are preparing for the European Championships, with Scotland only getting ready for their summer holidays.

But Strachan wants his team to use the experience to learn ahead of the World Cup qualifiers later this year, underlining that these are matches to be savoured.

"Is it brave? You have to play good sides in international football and it's exciting rather than brave," he said.

"The young players and the experienced guys that we have, get to play against world-class players."

Callum Paterson could make his international debut given the Hearts player is the only right-back in the squad, although centre-back Russell Martin made his name in the position at Norwich.

Along with Paterson, Oliver Burke, John McGinn and Stephen Kingsley, Barrie McKay and goalkeeper Jack Hamilton are all still eligible for Scotland Under-21s.

"From my point of view, you look to see if they are comfortable first of all in the squad," Strachan said. "Are they adaptable? Because some come from systems that are a bit different to the way we play.

"And then the real test is can they stand up and enjoy the game? Are they comfortable in the game, can they enjoy the game, can they take something from it?

"It would be easier for us to take a lesser team but would we really have learnt a lot from that?

"Because the last couple of years we have played some tremendous sides and we have to be prepared for that."