"We always have to punch above our weight in this competition," said Strachan. "We had a transfer deficit of £2 million in the summer, while there is certainly a few bob getting spent around here, that's for sure.

"We just can't get the same kind of players as Shakhtar, though. I'd love to search the world for players like they do. I know there are good ones in Russia, Africa and South America even just below the level of the top clubs there. We can't bring them in, though, because of the regulations in our country.

"Someone compared us to PSV Eindhoven recently and asked why a club of their size could make it to the semi-finals of the Champions League but we couldn't. But you can't compare us to them, because they can bring in any player from anywhere in the world. They did it with Romario when he was a kid and later sold him for £13 million.

"I'm not moaning about it, but that's just the way it is. We sent our chief scouts Ray Clarke and John Park to the under-20 World Cup in Canada this year, but it was a waste of time because we can't touch the players playing for most of the countries there."