Key events
13 min: Fernandes is fouled by Ralston in midfield. While the pair jabber at each other, Leao is sent scampering down the left, chasing a quick free kick. His shot-cum-cross is deflected out for a corner, from which nothing comes. Portugal have responded to conceding by coming back at Scotland hard.
11 min: Leao certainly has the beating of Ralston down the left. He reaches the byline and tugs back for Jota, who can’t force a shot goalwards. Scotland clear. Portugal are going to cause a lot of bother along this flank.
9 min: That’s McTominay’s 11th goal for Scotland. It’s nearly immediately cancelled out by Leao, who burns past Ralston, Gilmour and Hanley down the left and flashes a shot into the side netting. Gunn had it covered, but what a run.
GOAL! Portugal 0-1 Scotland (McTominay 7)
A shock! Scotland score! Not so much a shock: it’s McTominay who scores it. Portugal only half-clear a free kick. The ball’s picked up by McLean on the left. He curls a majestic cross into the box. McTominay, timing his run perfectly from behind a static back line, arrives on the edge of the six-yard box from the right and powers a header across Diogo Costa and into the top left! What a fine goal!
6 min: Fernandes dinks a clever pass infield from the left. Silva shuttles it further towards the centre for Jota, who can’t quite sort his feet out on the edge of the box and hooks a shot wide right.
5 min: … nothing much. But that’s a decent couple of minutes for Scotland, who hadn’t had much of a sniff beforehand. Hopefully it’ll settle them.
4 min: McTominay takes a quick free kick in the middle of the park and sends McGinn skittering off down the left. The referee considers pulling play back – the ball was probably rolling when McTominay took the free kick – but decides against it, and McGinn wins a corner. That corner leads to another, which leads to …
2 min: Portgual stroke it around like they own the gaff. Which they sort of do. Bernardo Silva drops deep on the right and tries to find Pedro Neto with a cute pass down the channel but there’s too much on it and it flies through to Gunn. A big gap in the Scotland defence there.
Scotland get the ball rolling. The Estádio da Luz making a rare old racket.
The teams are out! Portugal wear red and green, while Scotland are in second-choice “light mint blue with purple” which is said to represent [adjusts pince-nez, squints] “a new twist on tartan with fresh colours and a disruptive design randomly placed across the sides and back.” Lord Rosebery will be spinning in his grave. Anyway, once the patriotic folk ditties are warbled, we’ll be up and away.
Here’s how A1 stands after the first round of matches. Scotland will visit Croatia and host Portugal during the October break; in November they’ll welcome Croatia to Hampden before travelling to Poland.
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Poland P1 W1 D0 L0 F3 A2 Pts 3
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Portugal P1 W1 D0 L0 F2 A1 Pts 3
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Scotland P1 W0 D0 L1 F2 A3 Pts 0
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Croatia P1 W0 D0 L1 F1 A2 Pts 0
Scotland have lost four of their last five games against Portugal to the aggregate tune of 12-2. The other meeting ended goalless. Their last victory over the Portuguese came in March 1980, Andy Gray, Kenny Dalglish, Steve Archibald and Archie Gemmill scoring the goals in a 4-1 Hampden rout. Here’s what happened the last time everyone met …
Team news: Scots unchanged, Ronaldo benched
Scotland pick the same XI that started the Poland game. The public cry out for more Ben Doak and Ryan Gauld but Steve Clarke, ever the showman, keeps ‘em wanting more.
Portugal meanwhile make four changes to their team in the wake of their 2-1 victory over Croatia. Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Dalot get some rest on the bench, while Vitinha and Gonçalo Bernardo Inácio miss out altogether; Nélson Semedo, António Silva, João Palhinha and Diogo Jota step up.
The teams
Portugal: Costa, Semedo, Dias, Silva, Palhinha, Fernandes, Silva, Leão, Mendes, Neto, Jota.
Scotland: Gunn, Ralston, Hanley, McKenna, Robertson, Gilmour, McLean, Christie, McTominay, McGinn, Dykes.
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy).
Preamble
Well, Thursday night didn’t pan out in the ideal manner … though if nothing else events faithfully adhered to traditional character-driven narrative structure: a brave performance, flashes of hope, a twist of the knife at the very end. And so now, having lost what was on paper their easiest fixture in League A1, Scotland are pretty much behind the eight-ball from the get-go. Tonight the task level shifts from easiest to hardest: away to Portugal, the eighth-best side in the world, and one whose line is led by a man who has scored 131 international goals. God speed, Steve. Good luck, gentlemen. Kick-off is at 7.45pm BST. It’s on!
