Willie Miller
Former Scotland defender on BBC Sportsound

Willie Miller
Former Scotland defender on BBC Sportsound

Scotland make a bright start and their passing game has Portugal camped in their own half.

Still early, of course.

Scotland get the game under way all in navy blue, with their opponents all in white.

Still Game actor Sanjeev Kohli is among the Scotland fans at Hampden.

He and his fellow supporters will hope Alex McLeish's side are up for it this evening.

Image source, SNS

The teams emerge from the tunnel. It is a sparsely populated national stadium.

The anthems to come.

The players are gathering in the tunnel at Hampden. The heavy rains of yesterday have made way for bright sunshine that awaits their entrance.

Scotland and Portugal last met in a 2002 friendly, an early double from Pauleta giving Portugal a 2-0 win in Braga.

Their most recent meetings on Scottish soil were World Cup qualifiers in 1992 and 1980, with both matches ending in goalless draws.

In all, Scotland have beaten this evening's visitors five times in 14 meetings, suffering six defeats. However, Portugal are unbeaten in the last five of those since a 4-1 loss in Glasgow in 1980.

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Portugal are unbeaten in their three games since losing to Uruguay at this summer's World Cup finals and are seeking a third straight win after Nations League defeats of Italy and Poland.

That exit at the round of 16 stage in Russia was their only defeat in their last 10 outings, their only other loss in their last 19 games being a 3-0 home defeat by Netherlands in a friendly in March.

Scotland have only won two of their last nine matches, losing six of them, seven of them under Alex McLeish.

His side are currently ranked 39th in the world, 32 places behind the Euro 2016 winners.

Image source, Getty Images

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer at Hampden

Portugal head coach Fernando Santos knows all about losing in Scotland having been in charge of an AEK Athens side beaten by Hibernian in 2001 and a Benfica team that lost to Celtic five years later.

The 54-year-old is understandably wary of "a strong opponent" full of "passion" from their players and fans.

However, given the disappointment of Thursday's defeat in Israel and the fact Hampden is likely to be half full, one wonders how much fervour they will actually face from either.

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Some people prefer the Scotland team to do badly - or so suggests captain Andy Robertson while admitting that poor performances have allowed pundits and the media to be critical.

Head coach Alex McLeish was widely criticised following Thursday's 2-1 Nations League defeat in Israel and, while Robertson "understands the fans' frustration", he says "the criticism is a bit harsh".

Robertson does admit that the performance in Haifa was not good enough but stresses that the players are still adapting to McLeish's system.

The Liverpool 24-year-old has been pushed forward to a wing-back role under McLeish, with Celtic's Kieran Tierney playing at centre-half to accommodate two players regarded as world class in their normal left-back role. He's back in his normal role tonight.

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Portugal head coach Fernando Santos makes sweeping changes to his side.

Only Benfica defender Ruben Dias retains his place from Thursday's 3-2 win away to Poland in the Nations League.

Helder Costa, who has been on form for Wolverhampton Wanderers, is handed his international debut up front.

Image source, SNS

Willie Miller
Former Scotland defender on BBC Sportsound

Scotland: Gordon; O'Donnell, Hendry, McKenna, Robertson; Forrest, Armstrong, McGinn, C McGregor; McBurnie, Naismith

Substitutes: A McGregor, McLaughlin, Shinnie, Russell, McDonald, Devlin, Mackay-Steven, Christie

Portugal: Beto; Cedric, Neto, Dias, Rodrigues; Danilo, Oliveira, Fernandes; Bruma, Eder, Costa

Substitutes: Ramos, Cancelo, Mendes, Sanches, Silva, Carvalho, Silva, Neves, Rui, Pizzi, Fernandes

Alex McLeish struggled to get a tune out of Scotland in Israel. Will his side be in finer fettle at Hampden?

Image source, SNS