Cristiano Ronaldo scores late for Portugal and breaks Scotland's heart | Nations League

A stomp towards the cheering crowd, followed by a mischievous grin and the “I'm still the man” pout of celebration: In the 88th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 901st goal after a slide, destroying the history of a bravely fought point for Scotland.

By then, Steve Clarke seemed to be on the way to restoring the goodwill he had stripped from the Tartan Army.

His team, which had been hemmed in throughout, won the match through Scott McTominay and took the lead at half-time. But Angus Gunn's hands were made of plasticine when Bruno Fernandes equalised, despite the No. 1 having to avenge João Félix in the last minute. His left and right posts also saved two more attempts from Ronaldo.

Overall, Clarke's players still believe in him, but he needs to impress upon them the need to be more proactive and embrace the truism that attack is the best form of defence.

The setback means Scotland have failed to win their eighth consecutive international match. This is a record and Clarke cannot ignore the failure. The day marks the anniversary of Scotland's last victory, a 3-0 win over Cyprus.

Clarke surprisingly kept the same team that lost 3-2 to Poland on Thursday. The thinking seemed clear: the manager wanted to reward those who had come back from a 2-0 deficit at Hampden, but they forgot that Grant Hanley's late tackle resulted in the 97th-minute penalty that gave Poland the win and exposed a weakness in the team that may need to be addressed.

The glass is half full. You could say Clarke wanted the same group to make up for those mistakes. So his point of view was challenged, and he was brave. Within seven minutes he was rewarded for it.

Scotland had earlier threatened with two corners from Billy Gilmour from the left. Now, in open play, Kenny McLean fired the ball across from the same wing and McTominay headed past Diogo Costa to send the travelling Tartan Army into ecstasy with his tenth goal in 17 appearances.

Deserved, but Roberto Martínez's side were a constant threat both before and after. A combination of Fernandes and Bernardo Silva set up Diogo Jota, who miscued a shot. Then Rafael Leão twice burst down the left to keep Gunn busy in the visitors' goal.

Portugal came in endless waves of red. A cross from Pedro Neto had to be headed away by Scott McKenna to stop Fernandes. From the resulting corner, the ball went back from the left to Fernandes, who left Neto behind and whose ball this time was just begging to be used by Antonio Silva, but the defender missed.

Scotland were in trouble. They had retreated far too far back, as Leão showed again when he charged forward and shot, and Gunn dived impressively to the right and slotted the ball home.

Portugal's wealth of chances would fill a compendium. If Scotland could stop Leão, they could contain him. The winger ran forward and passed to Jota, whose shot again went wide. Leão was a one-man riot, scattering Clarke's men. When the number 17 lobbed the ball to Antonio Silva, the centre-back stretched the ball out and the Scots could once again breathe easy.

Far better was a flowing back-to-front move that overcame Portuguese pressure near Gunn's goal and ended with a John McGinn pass that was too wide. But that did not ease the pressure as Gunn admired the advance and again saved his team by thwarting a diving header from Jota. Ronaldo, on the bench, was surely cursing his break as he trusted to score from each of the missed chances. As the half ended, a Fernandes shot was blocked by McKenna then, more annoyingly, Leão went wide.

Martínez reacted by taking João Palhina and Neto off, replacing Rúben Neves and Ronaldo, who took his beloved No. 9 spot, while Jota moved to the right winger position.

As a recognised player of advanced age, Ronaldo has entered a zone where he grins indulgently when he misses an opportunity when a pass would have been a better option, such as when the ball goes wide of the goal.

But moments later, Fernandes was on his way to an equaliser when Gunn failed to deflect the ball with his left hand and inadvertently steered it home. The No.8's left-footed shot was a speculative affair from outside the box that the goalkeeper should have saved.

This was now a test of mental strength for Clarke's squad. Could they hold out or even improve? They were under pressure, lacking the skill and intelligence to keep the ball and push Portugal back towards their territory.

When it finally happened, Gilmour ran into the box and hit the turf, but Maurizio Mariani was right not to care, as the referee ruled that Neves had taken the ball first, as he had. Moments later, the referee was right for a second time when he waved off another penalty for handball following a Ryan Christie shot.

Ronaldo's winning goal came from a beautiful cross from Nuno Mendes and raises further questions for Clarke.