Good play by returning Macedonian striker Tihomir Kostadinov and he's chopped down by Bernardo Silva.

Sweden start by pumping the ball from the back straight towards the Poland box. A foul by Alexander Isak ends the attack, though.

The home fans in Poland are sporting their colours. It is a sea of red and white.

There's plenty of rain flying about too, just to grease that pitch up a bit.

All down to this now. Winner takes all.

Early attack for North Macedonia and they win a throw-in but then get caught offside.

Here we go in Porto.

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Everyone expected this one to be Portugal v Italy - a battle of the last two European champions.

But North Macedonia, ranked 67th in the world, go to Porto looking to qualify for the World Cup for the first time, having stunned Italy 1-0 in the semi-finals.

Aleksandar Trajkovski's injury-time strike from outside the box was the difference in Palermo.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

What this showdown ensures is that one iconic centre forward will be missing from the action in Qatar.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back from suspension for this final, having missed the semi-final win over the Czech Republic. Will it be he or Poland's Robert Lewandowski absent from the big global event at the end of this year?

The pair sure have some goals between them. Ibrahimovic has 62 Sweden goals from 120 caps, the first of which the 40 year old earned in 2001.

Lewandowski is seven years younger but has more caps and goals - 128 appearances yielding 74 goals.

There is a very good chance that failing to reach Qatar will end their hopes of ever appearing at another World Cup finals.

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This is likely to be Cristiano Ronaldo's last shot at a World Cup unless he plays on until he's 41.

He is the all-time top scorer in men's international football with 115 goals, including seven across four World Cups.

He led his country to glory in Euro 2016, but this is likely to be his final chance to win a World Cup.

"The one who will decide my future is me," said Ronaldo. "If I want to play more, I play. If I don't want to, I don't play."

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North Macedonia have enjoyed an amazing year, having beaten Germany 2-1 in World Cup qualifying in March 2021, before playing at Euro 2020 - their first major tournament.

Blagoja Milevski, who replaced Igor Angelovski after Euro 2020, has only lost one of his eight games in charge.

"We won against one of the best teams in the world [Italy]," said Milevski. "We won't stop here. We have one last step to get to the World Cup.

"We are well on our way to confirming why we are among the top 20 teams in Europe."

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Poland had the easier route to reaching this World Cup play-off final by virtue of not having to play all in their semi. Russia's exclusion meant they received a bye straight through to the game at the Stadion Slaski.

Sweden had to go through 120 minutes of action with Czech Republic, with Robin Quaison's extra-time goal proving enough to settle the tie.

Prior to that, the Swedes came second in qualifying Group B behind Spain, while Poland were runners-up to England in Group I.

Having rested some players for the friendly draw in Scotland last week, Poland restore their first-choice players to the side for this final.

Only five of those who started the game against the Scots do so tonight, including Aston Villa's Matty Cash, Brighton's Jakub Moder and Southampton's Jan Bednarek.

Chief amongst the returning players is striker Robert Lewandowski. Wojciech Szczesny returns in net, with Sebastian Szymanski and Piotr Zielinski supporting Lewandowski in attack.

Poland: Szczesny, Bielik, Glik, Bednarek, Cash, Goralski, Moder, Bereszynski, Zielinski, Sebastian Szymanski, Lewandowski.

Subs: Wieteska, Grosicki, Grabara, Buksa, Kedziora, Zurkowski, Piatek, Reca, Skorupski, Helik, Krychowiak, Puchacz.

Robin Quaison's reward for scoring Sweden's winner in the semi-final with the Czech Republic is to start the final against Poland. He will partner Alexander Isak in attack.

Martin Olsson is injured and so Ludwig Augustinsson comes into the side at left-back. Newcastle defender Emil Krafth also plays at the back, with Joakim Nilsson making way.

Albin Ekdal had been suffering with an injury issue, so Jesper Karlstrom starts in midfield.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back from suspension to take a spot on the bench.

Sweden: Olsen, Krafth, Lindelof, Danielson, Augustinsson, Kulusevski, Kristoffer Olsson, Karlstrom, Forsberg, Quaison, Isak.

Subs: Helander, Elanga, Starfelt, Linde, Ibrahimovic, Nordfeldt, Sundgren, Hrgota, Karlsson, Svanberg, Claesson, Bengtsson.

Portugal make three changes from their semi-final win over Turkey - all in defence.

Pepe, who had Covid, Joao Cancelo, who was suspended, and Nuno Mendes replace Jose Fonte, Diogo Dalot and Raphael Guerreiro.

North Macedonia duo Elif Elmas and Tihomir Kostadinov both return from suspension and replace Boban Nikolov and Darko Churlinov.

Portugal: Costa, Cancelo, Danilo, Pepe, Mendes, Fernandes, Moutinho, Otavio, Ronaldo, Jota, Bernardo.

Subs: Leao, Carvalho, Patricio, Silva, Sa, Guedes, Felix, Fonte, Guerreiro, Cedric, Vitinha, Luiz.

North Macedonia: Dimitrievski, S Ristovski, Musliu, Velkovski, Alioski, Elmas, Bardhi, Ademi, Trajkovski, M Ristovski, Kostadinov.

Subs: Todoroski, Miovski, Naumovski, Churlinov, Spirovski, Serafimov, Dorian Babunski, Nikolov, David Babunski, Siskovski, Ristevski, Askovski.

Poland are eyeing a second consecutive appearance at the World Cup finals. In 2018 they were knocked out in the group stage and also fell at the same hurdle at Euro 2020 last year.

The Poles have lost just once in eight games in all competitions ahead of this game, although it required a 94th minute penalty from Krzysztof Piatek to avoid defeat in Scotland in a friendly last Thursday.

Sweden are also aiming to make the World Cup finals for the second time on the bounce. In 2018, they reached the last eight before being eliminated by England.

There is good news and bad news for the Swedes. The bad is that they have won just one of their last nine World Cup qualifying games away from home, losing the last three on the road. The good is that they have a decent track record against Poland, winning each of the last six encounters.

Portugal had to ride their luck a bit to reach this final in Porto.

They beat Turkey 3-1 in the semi-final, but the Turks missed a late penalty at 2-1 before Portugal netted an injury-time third.

Having said that they were only seconds away from qualifying automatically last November before Aleksandar Mitrovic's last-minute winner sent Serbia through instead.

Image source, Reuters

"For us, this game is a matter of life and death. There is a responsibility to win this game.

"I urge the fans - I want hell breaking loose at Dragao.

"I went to bed thinking that I want the stadium to shut down the music for our national anthem and let the fans sing it acapella to show our passion, our strength and union around the objective of reaching the World Cup."

It's fair to say Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal are taking tonight's game with North Macedonia seriously.

Hello and welcome to live text of tonight's two World Cup European play-off finals.

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