Scotland v Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo storms off pitch as Scots hold firm

Some relief for Steve Clarke in his 62nd game in charge, then. A fine result with several players missing because of injury. Scotland are now at one win in 16 games and they have almost forgotten what it feels like to beat anyone, but they have played plenty of elite teams in that sequence and this was the first time they had avoided defeat against one of the best. They kept Cristiano Ronaldo as quiet as they could have hoped and he duly stomped up the tunnel at full-time in an apparent huff about Scotland’s spoiling tactics. In truth, his own finishing let him down far more.

Clarke’s team could have been far better with their passing but they did create solid chances of their own and their attitude was superb. They tried to keep the tempo quick, tried to move the ball at pace, taking risks with it at times, but above all they gave everything for their clean sheet. John Souttar was superb in central defence.

Portugal were careless in possession by their standards, seeing too many passes intercepted by Scotland. Clarke’s problem was his own team would give it back within seconds. They did attempt to build out from the back, bravely trying to find team-mates under pressure, but it never flowed and their occasional counterattacks came in between spells of Portuguese pressure.

Ronaldo was afforded all the attention he craves on the 1,246th appearance of his senior competitive career and first at Hampden. There was an eruption of noise around Hampden every time he touched the ball and jeers when he missed a couple of chances.

When he went up to connect with an overhead kick in the Scotland box Billy Gilmour did just enough to disrupt him and the efforts flew well wide. There was laughter – from Ronaldo included – when he and Nuno Mendes messed up a free-kick and it trundled away from them to set Scotland away on a counterattack. More like it, from Mendes, was a whipped set-piece which might have surprised Gordon but instead brought a fine reaction save. Gordon has had two fine games for his country in four days.

Still, everyone had been in this movie before with Scotland. It all felt like the preamble to an inevitable Portuguese breakthrough.

Scotland were giving away too many free-kicks and allowing Portugal too many touches in and around the box. They were absorbing too much pressure for comfort, but the defending was resolute. Portugal’s wastefulness was an almighty relief to Scotland. Che Adams took a gift from Nuno Mendes and fed it to Anthony Ralston, who played in Scott McTominay for a shot across goal and wide. Scotland’s neatest first-half attack should have brought a goal. Kenny McLean’s quick free-kick was laid off by Ben Doak to Andy Robertson, who swung in a cross for McTominay. These are the invitations he has been gobbling up for 18 months in a Scotland shirt but this time he headed too straight at Diogo Costa. Ryan Christie had a chance too, controlling a Rúben Dias clearance and drilling a firm shot at Costa.

The new hope, Doak, was quiet and Scotland were unable to get him involved enough. He would turn and come back too often. One startling contribution was a recovery run when Portugal had an overload. Doak motored back to help protect the back four. Boy, he can shift. One explosive burst in the second half earned Joao Palhinha a booking for hauling him down. Moments later his pass to McLean was intercepted and Portugal attacked, Francisco Conceicao lifting yet another of their efforts over the bar. Ronaldo had also put one over from a Jota cross.

Portugal coach Roberto Martínez turned to his bench for even more heavy artillery. On came Bernardo Silva, Rafael Leao, and Rúben Neves. Clarke gave a late debut to Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin, who embellished his night with a superb block on Leao. Team-mates crowded round to congratulate him.
Scotland were on the back foot through the second half, but did sweep forward and might have snatched a winner. McTominay missed his kick from once chance when Adams nodded it down to him and could not quite get to an Ralston ball swept across the box in one thrilling transition. But Scotland got there.

Their night began with a minute’s applause for the late Alex Salmond. Finally the fans erupted again, at the sweet release of the final whistle.

Pitch invader who tried to get to Ronaldo ‘dangerous’, says Martínez

Roberto Martínez, the Portugal coach, said it had been worrying and potentially dangerous that a fan was able to invade the pitch at Hampden and run almost half the length of it in an attempt to reach Cristiano Ronaldo in the second half of their goalless Nations League draw with Scotland (writes Michael Grant).

The intruder, who appeared to come from the Portuguese fans’ section, seemed to want a selfie but he was rugby-tackled to the ground by a steward when he got to within a few yards of Ronaldo. He was then led away. The security breach was the latest of numerous incidents of fans racing on to the pitch to get to the 39-year-old superstar. Lionel Messi has received similar unwanted attention from fans seeking selfies.

“Unfortunately it happened too many times, it is not the first time,” Martínez said. “During the European championships we had many, many occasions. Of course we know what Cristiano brings to the game. We understand that. When you have someone jumping on the pitch with the wrong intentions it is very dangerous. I was worried. I am glad it was just what it was.”

Martínez claimed to be unaware of Ronaldo leaving the pitch and storming up the tunnel at full-time, apparently outraged by the referee’s decision not to award a corner in the final seconds, while the rest of his players went over to acknowledge the visiting supporters.

Gordon made a crucial save at the death

MARK RUNNACLES/EPA

Meanwhile, the Scotland coach Steve Clarke hailed his team’s resilience after a hard-fought defensive display against opponents 44 places higher in the Fifa rankings. Clarke, whose 62nd game as permanent manager took him one beyond Jock Stein and Andy Roxburgh’s totals, saw his side earn its first point in group A1 after opening with three defeats.

He revealed he had celebrated 41-year-old goalkeeper Craig Gordon’s brilliant late save to deny Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes. “When they did create the big, big chance, Craig made the save, which is the first time in a long time I’ve celebrated a goalkeeper’s save. I was trying to talk to John [Carver, his assistant] and actually celebrated it. So it meant a lot to me and it meant a lot to everybody in the stadium because that’s what gets you the point. We spoke before the game about doing all the dirty stuff, the hard work, the ugly stuff if you like, and the boys did that fantastically. Obviously, the point was important for us. The work we’ve put into the group to get off the mark is nice. So, yeah, it’s good.”