Andy Murray – a little angry, clean-shaven and returning to the Davis Cup after a contentious absence of nearly two years – is back in Scotland on Friday evening to lead Great Britain against Luxembourg, a team captained by a human rights lawyer on his annual leave.

The wilfully hairy Scot, fresh from reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon, objected to remarks by the former Cup captain David Lloyd earlier this week that he should shave his shaggy beard and tidy himself up if he wanted to break through at the highest level.

“I heard what David had to say about getting a shave and so forth,” an unusually irritated Murray told Scottish reporters, “and he’s entitled to his opinion – but I’m not interested in what he thinks. I don’t care about anyone who’s stuck in the 80s.”

At the draw on Thursday, he had calmed down a little. “I have enjoyed the last few days,” he said. “It’s nice being around all the guys, good fun. That’s the best part about Davis Cup. Whether it’s the best thing for me or not, I have no idea.”

It was then the turn of Jacques Radoux to talk tough (with tongue in cheek). A fit and feisty 41-year-old who played eight times for his country in the 90s and now earns a living arguing over the minutiae of tax and VAT at the European court of human rights, the visiting captain joked that we had better watch what we write about his players, who, apart from Gilles Müller, are little know beyond their own neighbourhoods.

Radoux is anxious his players are taken seriously, although he put their ambitions no higher than “playing as well as we can”. He also pointed out after the draw was made that he was here only because “I took my annual holidays”, and had to leave work in the middle of a case.

The contrast between the countries’ ambitions and resources is stark. While Luxembourg has 55 clubs and 5,000 registered players, only Müller and the 18-year-old Mike Vermeer, who has not long left school, have rankings.

Vermeer, who struggled to win a handful of games in the first round in Dublin against Ireland – in which Müller almost single-handedly got them through 3-2 – is ranked 971.

Laurent Bram, 27, Murray’s opponent in the second match of this Europe/Africa Zone II second-round tie at the Braehead Arena, coaches for a living in the suburbs of Luxembourg. Bram partners Vermeer in the doubles against Andy and Jamie Murray on Saturday afternoon from 2pm, with the reverse singles starting at 1pm on Sunday. Friday’s matches start at 4pm, which is unusually late. The organisers say they hope to attract an after-work audience and, as the luck of the draw would have it, the match they will see is Murray against Bram.

It will be a major surprise if the world No4 struggles against Bram, who left the tour four years ago after modest results.

The team live and die on the racket of 28-year-old Müller, who plays James Ward in the opening match. He put the Canadian prospect Milos Raonic out in the second round at Wimbledon then took Rafael Nadal to two tie-breaks.

“I felt very close [to beating Nadal],” he said. “I regret a lot of things in that match. If I had been a little bit more aggressive, I think I could have won the second set, but, two sets down against Rafael Nadal …”

Great Britain, meanwhile, brought more back-up staff than players. The spirit in the British camp is high. Ward had non-playing team-mate Dan Evans – in at late notice for the injured Colin Fleming – in stitches when he referred to “the rest of the Neanderthals” in tennis. Ward, the son of a London taxi-driver, had, apparently, lost a Playstation game the previous night and, as a forfeit, had to include the world “Neanderthals” in any answer to questions on Wednesday. Pointedly, all but Andy were sporting stubble.

Great Britain lost to the teenagers of Ukraine in 2009 and Lithuania at this venue the following March. It is hard to believe they could top those embarrassments. If they come through, they play Belarus away or Hungary at home in September.

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