Cristiano Ronaldo once again proved why he considered as the greatest of all time as he carried Portugal to bag 2-1 win against Scotland and scored his 901st goal during the Nations League match. During the match, Ronaldo who reached 900 career goals with his 131st international strike in Thursday's victory over Croatia came off the bench to lift Portugal to their second successive win in Nations League Group A1. The Estadio da Luz in Lisbon rose in unison to chant the relentless Al Nassr forward's name after he struck with two minutes to play. On his 30th birthday, Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes fired Portugal's second-half equaliser after his former Old Trafford team-mate Scott McTominay gave Scotland a surprise early lead. For Portugal boss Roberto Martinez, victory over Scotland could mean some awkward silences at his next family gathering.

Martinez met his wife Beth while playing for Scottish club Motherwell in 2001 and joked before the match he would be delighted to upset his father-in-law by beating Scotland. He did exactly that, leaving Scotland still waiting for their first win over Portugal. Beaten 3-2 by Poland at Hampden Park on Thursday, Scotland have won just once in 14 matches, a barren sequence that included their lacklustre failure to make it out of the group stage at Euro 2024. Steve Clarke's men have lost six of their nine matches in 2024, with their only victory coming in a friendly against Gibraltar in June. "When you bring quality players from the bench like Roberto can do you always know there's a risk," Clarke said. "I'm really disappointed for my players because I think they deserved to get something from the game. "But with the amount of balls that go into the box, you know one of them can go in the back of the net and that's what happened to us."

Credit: Independent News Pakistan