Portugal lacked 'a little bit of magic' in Scotland stalemate, says Martinez

Portugal manager Roberto Martinez was in a defensive mood following his team's goalless draw away to Scotland in the Nations League on Tuesday night.

After scoring in each of the Spaniard's first 12 competitive matches in charge of Portugal, the Selecao have since drawn a blank in four of their last seven matches.

Portugal did have their chances, however, registering 14 shots during the contest, though only three were on target, ending the night with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.52.

Martinez faced criticism for lacking a plan B after his side struggled to break the Scots down.

"Our talent of our players, is plan A, B, C, D, E," he told De Sporto after the match.

"We have players inside, outside, we are talking about a team that did not take risks, that defended very well.

"We are talking about a team [Portugal] that reached 53 times in the last third. We have to give credit to Scotland and to us the fact that we managed to keep a clean sheet."

94' RESULTADO FINAL Empate no Hampden Park. #PartilhaAPaixão | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/Civ74KIvAd

— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) October 15, 2024

It was a frustrating night for Martinez and fans alike.

Despite Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Jota among other big hitters starting, they were unable to find a way past 41-year-old goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who made some impressive saves when they did get in on goal.

When asked what was missing from the performance, he alluded to a lack of individual quality.

"A decision, a little bit of magic in the area. We had a lot of desire, we worked very well without the ball," Martinez said.

"It was a dangerous game because we could have possession of the ball, but Scotland have little need to score a goal. We showed freshness, but we lacked freshness in the last third.

"You also have to give credit to Scotland, they had a lot of players in front of goal, their goalkeeper also made a spectacular save."

Following the performance and result at Hampden Park, there have been further questions about Martinez's selection policy for Portugal.

The most high-profile query of all remains whether 39-year-old Ronaldo should continue, having had a difficult night on his 200th start for his country.

"The national team always has an open door, but now we are talking about a very, very large group of players," said Martinez.

"It is a question of continuing to connect and synchronise what we can do. Now the game in Porto is to celebrate qualification in front of our fans."

200 - Cristiano Ronaldo is making his 200th start for Portugal tonight, 21 years and 4 days after his very first start for the @selecaoportugal (v Albania - 11/10/2003). Legend. pic.twitter.com/77arLJ8WRP

— OptaJoao (@OptaJoao) October 15, 2024

Scotland manager Steve Clarke, meanwhile, was much happier with the result, which ended a four-game losing run for Scotland.

"It's not about turning a corner, it's just about working hard and not letting the country down. You could see that tonight," he said.

"The point was important for us after the work the group put in to get off the mark."

The result also marked Scotland's first clean sheet since beating Gibraltar 2-0 seven games ago in a pre-Euro 2024 warm-up friendly.

The performance at the back was another thing that pleased Clarke.

"Defensively sound, the shape of the team was good," he said.

"We denied a lot of space in behind. Good concentration in the box, determined defending at times, some really good blocks, which you need against sides like Portugal.

"Everyone contributed to earn the point."

Despite taking an unexpected point, Scotland are still bottom of their Nations League group, while the draw means they are winless in 10 matches - their longest ever run.