Turkey boss Stefan Kuntz: "The team has showed us that we have the mental strength we need. Team spirit also helps. We have played some difficult matches, but we have won. We can win even if we go behind. We are moving in the right direction.

"I need to make the players believe in our match plan. You can't beat Portugal if you only defend. We have talented players. We are strong going forward. We also have a good defence. But we will take the field with courage. They have to beat us. From our first touch, we have to make them think: 'This game is not going to be easy.'”

You might be wondering how the past two European champions, Italy and Portugal, have ended up in qualifying play-offs for the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

Well, the simple answer is Portugal finished second in their group behind Serbia, who beat them in Lisbon in November, while Italy finished two points behind Switzerland.

And just one of these teams will be going to the World Cup, with the winners playing each other in Tuesday's decisive final play-off.

Portugal are missing a few big names themselves this evening, with Joao Cancelo suspended and Manchester City team-mate Ruben Dias injured.

Pepe, Renato Sanches and Wolves duo Ruben Neves and Nelson Semedo are also injured.

Image source, Getty Images

So Giorgio Chiellini starts on the bench and the injured Leonardo Bonucci has not made the Italy squad. How big a miss will they be?

I was chatting to an Italian journalist at the weekend and he said Chiellini is especially crucial to the Azzurri, who will have one eye on Tuesday's final play-off match against either Portugal or Turkey.

“I am fine, I’ve been training well and I had a few doubts, but I’ve actually done all right and am happy to be here," said Chiellini this week, keen to prove his fitness.

“Considering the last month, training without problems is already an achievement.”

Plenty of familiar faces in the Portugal line-up, with Cristiano Ronaldo both leading the line and captaining the side, along with Liverpool's Diogo Jota in attack.

Ronaldo's Manchester United team-mates Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot are also named in an attacking side that includes Manchester City's Bernardo Silva.

Portugal XI: Diogo Costa, Dalot, Danilo, Fonte, Guerreiro, Fernandes, Moutinho, Silva, Ronaldo, Jota, Otavio.

Turkey's key man Hakan Calhanoglu starts in midfield at Porto's Estadio do Dragao, with forward Burak Yilmaz captaining the side.

Turkey XI: Cakir, Kutlu, Soyuncu, Demiral, Kabak, Celik, Akturkoglu, Calhanoglu, Kokcu, Yilmaz, Under,

Giorgio Chiellini will start on the bench for Italy tonight as Gianluca Mancini wins just his second cap at the heart of defence. While they share the same surname, the defender has no relation to manager Roberto Mancini...

Italy XI: Donnarumma, Florenzi, Mancini, Bastoni, Emerson, Barella, Jorginho, Verratti, Berardi, Immobile, Insigne

Subs: Sirigu (GK), Cragno (GK), De Sciglio, Chiellini, Tonali, Cristante, Pellegrini, Joao Pedro, Pessina, Acerbi, Politano, Raspadori

North Macedonia XI: Dimitrievski, Alioski, Musliu, Velkovski, S Ristovski, Churlinov, Ademi, Bardi, Nikolov, Ristovski, Trajkovski

Subs: Naumovski (GK), Siskovski (GK), Todoroski, Ashkovski, Ristevski, D Babunski, Serafimov, Ethemi, Babunski, Spirovski, Atanasov, Miovski

We will be focusing on Portugal v Turkey and Italy v North Macedonia, with the winners set to meet on Tuesday for a place in the World Cup.

You can follow how Wales are getting on here.

Let's get stuck in with the team news...

It's a big night in the race for the World Cup, with four play-off games taking place.

On one side of the draw it is Italy versus North Macedonia and Portugal against Turkey.

On the other, Wales host Austria and Sweden take on the Czech Republic.

Whose dreams will still be alive come the end of the night?!