A stomp towards the delirious crowd followed by an impish grin and the I-remain-the-man pout of celebration: on 88 minutes Cristiano Ronaldo saluted his 901st goal after sliding home and shred the narrative of a point won bravely by Scotland. Until then, Steve Clarke appeared heading to replenish the goodwill he had been draining from the Tartan Army.
The manager may still, of course. And afterwards, Clarke, whose team were knocked out of Euro 2024 at the group stage, was careful to talk his side up. “Disappointed to lose the game especially for the players, for all the effort they put in,” he said.
“We can use these matches to try to build and the end goal as always is qualification for a tournament. It would be nice not to concede late goals but this is the level we are at because we have been a good team and managed to get to the top level of the Nations League.
“There are a lot of positives if you ignore the results but we’re professionals, so it’s disappointing. This is a level where the lessons are harsh – I talked to the players about not being too harsh on themselves.”
Clarke’s men broke the contest open via Scott McTominay and held the lead at the break. But Angus Gunn’s hands resembled plasticine when Bruno Fernandes squared the contest though the goalkeeper’s late saves from João Félix were payback, while his left and right post also kept out two other Ronaldo attempts. “I don’t speak about individuals,” said Clarke when asked about Fernandes’s finish, then did so. “Gunny had a good game.”
The bigger picture is that Clarke’s players still believe but he has to drill them to be more proactive and utilise the truism about attacking being the best form of defence. As he said: “The best way to defend is to have possession of the ball.”
The defeat means an eighth consecutive competitive international without a win – a record – something that cannot be brushed off by Clarke. This was the anniversary of Scotland’s last victory, 3-0 over Cyprus.
Having threatened via two Billy Gilmour corners from the left, the Scots’ lead came when Kenny McLean swung the ball over and McTominay headed past Diogo Costa.
It was deserved, but Roberto Martínez’s men were a continuous menace. A Fernandes-Bernardo Silva combination set up Diogo Jota who fluffed a shot. Then, twice, Rafael Leão burst down his left flank and had Gunn concerned.
Scotland were on the rack, retreating far too deep as Leão again showed when darting in and shooting and seeing Gunn, impressively, dive right and push the ball out as it headed inside the post.
Portugal’s blur of chances would fill a compendium but if Scotland could douse the firefly Leão they might have stemmed the flow. The wide man skated forward and squared to Jota, whose shooting boots malfunctioned once more. Leão was a one-man riot scattering Clarke’s men: when the No 17 dinked the ball to Antonio Silva the centre-back spooned over and the Scots could breathe again.
Far better was a flowing back-to-front move that beat the Portuguese squeeze near Gunn’s goal and ended in an overhit John McGinn delivery. But this did not ease the pressure because, after Gunn admired the foray, he had to bail his team out again, thwarting a Jota flying header.
Ronaldo, who started on the bench, surely cursed that fact as he would back himself to score from any of the spurned chances. As the first half, closed a Fernandes blast was blocked by Scott McKenna, then Leão steered wide. Martínez acted, removing João Palhina and Neto for Rúben Neves and Ronaldo, who took up his beloved No 9 berth, Jota moving to play up front on the right.
As a confirmed great of advancing years Ronaldo has entered a zone that has him grinning indulgently when missing an opening when the better option is to pass, as he did when slashing wide.
Moments later, Fernandes was on target with an equaliser Gunn flapped at and turned inadvertently home, the No 8’s left-foot finish a speculative affair from outside the area the goalkeeper should have saved.
This was a test of mental fortitude now for Clarke’s team. Could they hang on or even prosper further? They had become squashed, lacking the skill and wit to hog the ball and send Portugal back towards their territory.
When they finally did, a Gilmour run into the home area took him to the turf but Maurizio Mariani was not interested as the Italian referee correctly ruled that Neves took the ball first.
Moments later, the official was right a second time when waving away another penalty shout for handball from a Ryan Christie blast. Ronaldo’s match-winner came from a sweet Nuno Mendes cross and provokes more questions for Clarke.
