21 mins: A small lead is created here. Martinez loses the spot again, this time because of a foul by Christie on a flying Mendes. He probably wants the Scot to be signed. It doesn’t happen.

20 minutes: The resulting free kick, sent into the Portuguese penalty area from the right, is only half cleared and falls to Christie, who does well to intercept a shot from the D-border. Unfortunately it goes straight to Costa, who intercepts without much fuss.

19 mins: Adams and Christie are both knocked over in the scuffle and it’s another free kick for Scotland. Ronaldo is unhappy with the decision and has a long conversation with the referee. Roberto Martinez isn’t so happy either when he confronts the fourth official on the sideline. Everything is a bit disproportionate.

18 minutes: Jota goes in the book for standing up to Christie. It was a foul, but a yellow card seems a bit harsh to me. Jota fought for the ball and it didn’t seem deliberate.

16 minutes: Conceição tries again for Jota. Again. Scotland barely manages it, then Cancelo almost misses Robertson with a high kick to the head and the whistle gives Scotland the chance to regroup.

15 minutes: Conceição is causing all sorts of problems on the right. He crosses wide again, Jota lurks again on the long stick, and Ralston is forced to head back for a corner. Luckily for Scotland, the Portuguese corner is again nothing special.

13 mins: Portugal is starting to find its footing again after Scotland’s confident start. Conceição wins a corner from Robertson on the right. Fernandes cuts this short and what follows is a textbook example of overthinking and overplaying.

12 minutes: Fernandes swings the corner into the five-yard mixer but Gordon hits clear.

11 mins: Conceição dribbles into the Scottish penalty area from the right. He plays for Jota towards the far post, but Ralston keeps the Portuguese striker at arm’s length and raises his eyebrows for a corner. That’s a good defense; If Ralston hadn’t stood his ground, Jota would have had a chance from close range.

9 minutes: Christie pivots to push Ralston wide to the right. He crosses low to Adams, but the ball lands clattering into the first Portuguese defender. Unhappy. A great move initiated by McTominay’s advance into the middle.

8 minutes: Ronaldo’s second and third touches of the ball sparked even louder boos. That’s just a cry for retribution, isn’t it? And sure enough, not long after, he takes his first shot at goal, from the left edge of the Scotland D. A trundler that’s easy enough for Gordon.

6 minutes: Fernandes swings a ball from the second half into the Scottish penalty area. It sails miles over Ronaldo’s head and into the arms of Gordon.

4 minutes: Scotland should be leading the way. McLean takes a quick free kick to release Doak on the left. Doak deflects to Robertson, who crosses. McTominay is free from six yards but the Hampden goal machine hits a weak header straight at Costa. What an opportunity!

3 minutes: Nuno Mendes’ poor back pass allows McTominay to break into the Portuguese penalty area. He fails to put away a good shot and the flag still goes up as Ralston beat Antonio Silva to ensure McTominay could escape.

2 minutes: A nerve-wracking early possession for Scotland. Then Portugal takes over and gets a feel for the ball. Ronaldo has his first touch of the ball and has to do a few pantomime throws.

A minute of applause in memory of former First Minister Alex Salmond, who died on Saturday…then Scotland begins. An exciting atmosphere in Hampden. The trademark roar.

The teams are out! A pyro party on the sidelines as Scotland and Portugal take the pitch. The home heroes in dark blue, Portugal in his white and sky blue speckled change of clothes. We’ll be heading out in a minute or two once people have been sent home so they can think again.

Mailbag before the game. “Portknockie has an enchanting sound,” writes Peter Oh, the MBM paronomasian. “As far as the game goes, I shudder to think how many goals Port scored. will hit the goal.” Yes, we hope Scotland manages to stay afloat. (A niche reference for the Banffshire connoisseurs.)

Meanwhile, Simon McMahon added: “I have great hope that Scotland can get a famous win tonight. At least the law of averages says that we expect a result, but on the other hand the same law convinced me that we would win 24 euros, that we would elect some politicians who were not completely overwhelmed by their own pockets and that I would have at least one this year would stay sober for a month. It’s still November and December, right? Hands down the two best months of sobriety. Factoring in Anthony Ralston’s loan move, there are three (former) Dundee United players in Scotland’s starting XI tonight. Plus Ryan Gauld on the bench. You can do it, Scotland. Just like back then 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2021 2024. What did I say about the law of averages?”

Portugal make six changes from their 3-1 win over Poland at the weekend. Diogo Jota, João Cancelo, Francisco Conceição, Vitinha, João Palhinha and António Silva are competing. Although Roberto Martinez has spoken of carefully managing 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo’s minutes, Portugal’s 133-goal striker is in the starting lineup.

A reminder of how Scotland got into its latest crisis: a 3-2 home defeat against Poland, a 2-1 defeat in Portugal and a defeat by the same score last weekend in Croatia. This all means that the Group A1 table looks like this…

1. Portugal P3 W3 D0 L0 F7 A3 points 9

2. Croatia P3 S2 D0 N1 F4 A3 points 6

3. Poland P3 S1 D0 L2 F4 A6 points 3

4. Scotland P3 W0 D0 L3 F4 A7 points 0

In the other game tonight in the A1, Poland welcomes Croatia to Warsaw.

Scotland make a change to their starting XI following their 2-1 defeat in Croatia. Ché Adams replaces Lyndon Dykes at the helm. On the bench are some players who are hoping for their first cap this evening: Rangers midfielder Connor Barron, Aberdeen defenders Nicky Devlin and Jack MacKenzie, Preston centre-back Liam Lindsay, West Ham midfielder Andy Irving and goalkeepers Jon McCracken and Robby McCrorie, from Dundee and Kilmarnock respectively. John McGinn, Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey, Scott McKenna, Lewis Ferguson, Lawrence Shankland and Angus Gunn are missing due to injury.

The teams

preamble