Scotland captain Andrew Robertson insists Steve Clarke is still the right man to take the national team forward.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 901st career goal extended the Scots’ wretched run of results to one win in 14 after a 2-1 Nations League defeat in Lisbon.
Clarke is enduring the most challenging period of his five years as Scotland coach, with his side bottom of their Pool A group after back-to-back defeats to Poland and the nation ranked eighth in the FIFA rankings.
Scott McTominay’s 11th international goal claimed an early lead in the Estadio da Luz.
Despite losing the game to second-half goals from Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, skipper Robertson saw enough to suggest that the team are turning a corner after the poor performances and results of Euro 2024.
Citing Clarke’s role in taking the team back to a major finals in the first place, the Liverpool defender issued a strong defence of the manager, saying: ‘Without him and his staff, we wouldn’t have got to two major tournaments. That’s a fact.
Clarke has seen his Scotland side win just once, against lowly Gibraltar, in their last 14 matches
Robertson says Clarke is still the man to lead Scotland despite Ronaldo’s late winner in Lisbon
Clarke has seen a big improvement from his side in the last two games, but familiar results
‘When he took over, the country was not in a great place at all. Slowly but surely, we managed to piece it all together.
‘He couldn’t have done it without us, but we couldn’t have done it without him. He’s come under criticism, I’ve come under criticism, the whole team have come under criticism – but that’s the way of it.
‘When the results aren’t good, everyone looks at the leader, who’s the manager. The other leader is me, the captain.
‘Then, they look at the other big players. That’s part and parcel of it. We’ve been in the game long enough. We know and we can deal with that.’
Scotland had never won on Portuguese soil but hopes of a historic triumph rose after McTominay crept in at the back post to bullet a Kenny McLean cross past Diogo Costa after seven minutes.
Goalkeeper Angus Gunn was beaten by a Fernandes strike he should have saved early in the second half but produced a series of fine stops as the Scots clung on.
Robertson and Clarke exchanged views following a limp exit from Euro 2024 this summer
The visitors had decent spells of possession before Ronaldo came off the bench to claim more headlines with an 88th-minute winner.
After the game, Clarke told the players they had no reason to beat themselves up for their display against a team of world-class players and, despite the daunting task of heading to Zagreb to face Luka Modric and Croatia next month, Robertson believes the signs are positive.
‘It’s about us trying to believe that we can turn a corner,’ he said. ‘We believed that in the changing room before the Portugal game.
‘We believed we could come here and cause them issues and I think we definitely showed that. I think the way we played, you’ve seen the belief that we had.
‘We fell short, but, like I said, if we’re going to get beaten against a Pot 1 team like Portugal, then that’s the way to do it.
‘I don’t think anyone that was up in the stands could argue that we didn’t play for the jersey.’
