Scotland ‘believe’ amid threat of unwanted history in Portugal clash

Steve Clarke believes Scotland can avoid losing five games in a row for the first time in their history and end their winless run when they host Portugal at Hampden on Tuesday night.

A dire run has seen the Scots win just one of their last 15 matches, going nine in a row without victory and with four defeats on the spin since the poor displays at Euro 2024.

That spell includes three defeat in the Nations League, leaving Clarke’s side bottom of their group and facing the prospect of a swift relegation back to the second tier.

There have been extenuating circumstances to Scotland’s poor form, including a lengthy injury list and a tough series of games against high-class opposition in League A.

Despite that, Clarke’s side have been competitive in all three of their Nations League games against Poland, Portugal and Croatia – with only one goal to separate the sides in each.

Late misfortune has also been a theme, with late goals conceded against Poland and Portugal before Che Adams had a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out in the 2-1 defeat to Croatia in Zagreb.

Speaking on Monday ahead of the clash against Cristiano Ronaldo and the Selecao, Clarke said Scotland’s players deserved more respect after reaching back-to-back major European Championships

And the head coach urged Scotland to go into the Portugal match with confidence despite the Tartan Army missing up to 12 players due to injury.

“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t believe in this group of players,” Clarke said.

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“After 20 years in the international wilderness, this group of players have been to two major tournaments. They’ve got promotion to this top level of the Nations League, so I don’t understand why people would be doubting about this group of players.

“It’s a tough moment, there’s no doubt about it, but we believe in ourselves.

“They understand that we’re playing difficult opponents. They understand also that the squad could be stronger, everyone knows that. All these things are there to be seen.

“I don’t speak about it too much because I feel it’s disrespectful to the boys that are in the squad. We have to concentrate on who we have, who we have here. We have to go out against Portugal.

“We know we have to be very good at everything we do in the game. Hopefully we can get the result that might just change the whole mood about the place.”

James Forrest is the latest Scotland player to be ruled out, joining Angus Gunn, Nathan Patterson, Aaron Hickey, Ross McCrorie, Scott McKenna, Jack Hendry, Kieran Tierney, Greg Taylor, John McGinn, Lewis Ferguson, Lawrence Shankland and Tommy Conway on the injury list.

Rangers midfielder Connor Barron has been called up to the squad, while Ronaldo is set to play at Hampden for the first time in his career after scoring his 133rd Portugal goal in the 3-1 win over Poland on Saturday.