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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Mark Walker

'It's our fault' - frustrated Portugal stars reflect on Scotland stalemate

PORTUGAL star Joao Palhinha insisted the referee had nothing to do with their failure to beat Scotland... despite Cristiano Ronaldo's tantrums.

The global superstar stormed off the pitch at the end of his first ever appearance at Hampden in frustration at the performance of Belgian referee Lawrence Visser.

However, Bayern Munich ace Palhinha reckons they only had themselves to blame for their inability to maintain their 100 per cent record.

He said: "My honest opinion is that it wasn't because of the refereeing that we didn't win the game.

"It wasn't a good performance from him, but it's our fault that we left here with a draw.

"We were just missing goals and we deserved to win but it's always been difficult to play here in Scotland.

"We controlled the game clearly and we have to highlight what we've been doing in the Nations League and we hope to confirm the qualification in November.

"We're still in first place in the group and now we have two games, one home and one away, and we have to keep up the good streak of results in the national team."

And Manchester City star Bernardo Silva reckons they didn't play to their best in Glasgow after he came on as a second half sub.

He said: "I think the team lacked a lot of things. I think we didn't attack at the right moments, we didn't show intensity when we should have.

"Whether it's a friendly or a competitive game, this team always must have responsibility and ambition. And we take on that pressure to always play the same way and always go out there to win.

"We knew that with the draw we would still remain in first place in the group and we remain in a good position to qualify in first place, which is what we want. But of course we leave here with some frustration."

And AC Milan winger Rafael Leao credited the atmosphere created by the Tartan Army.

He said: "It was a difficult game and we couldn't impose ourselves.

"And Scotland were playing at home with their fans behind them and they are a tough team.

"Our game wasn't perfect. We tried to win. We created a lot of clear goal chances, but we weren't effective enough."

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