Stalemate at Hampden Park as Scotland and Portugal play out barren draw

A spirited Scotland performance at Hampden Park saw Steve Clarke’s side pick up their first Nations League point of the campaign as they held Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal to a 0-0 draw at Hampden Park.

Despite Portugal enjoying the lion’s share of possession, it will perhaps the home side that will leave the Group A1 clash most disappointed after Scott McTominay uncharacteristically failed to convert two golden chances in either half that would have secured an unlikely three points.

Head coach Clarke opted to make just one change from the 2-1 defeat to Croatia, with Che Adams replacing Lyndon Dykes upfront. For Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo led the line, earning his 216th cap in the process.

The pre-match talk had been dominated by the Portuguese superstar’s arrival at Hampden Park, but the headlines were almost stolen by McTominay after just five minutes when his header from Andy Robertson’s sublime cross was palmed away at close range.

The visitors would soon assert their dominance, though, with Ronaldo and Nuno Mendes both seeing shots well saved by Craig Gordon in the Scotland goal. The home side would then Ryan Christie pull a fine save out of Diogo Costa as the Bournemouth man worked a fine volley from a corner.

Ronaldo would go close again in the second half, pinging a header over the crossbar, while Ben Doak’s slack pass allowed Francisco Conceição to fire just over from the edge of the area. Despite constant Portugal pressure, it was McTominay who would again be presented with a wonderful chance, but he couldn’t quite stretch to place Anthony Ralston’s cross home after some smart interplay between Ryan Gauld and Lewis Morgan.

In the end though, neither side were able to break the deadlock as Scotland took a deserved point against the Euro 2024 quarter-finalists.