Clarke insists his Scots deserved to take something from Lisbon after late Ronaldo goal seals Portugal comeback

Steve Clarke insisted Scotland had no reason to beat themselves up despite succumbing to a Cristiano Ronaldo sucker punch in Portugal.

The five-time Ballon D’Or winner claimed the 901st goal of his career with an 88th-minute winner as the Scots slid to a 2-1 Nations League defeat.

Scott McTominay had silenced the home crowd with a stunning header after seven minutes — his tenth goal in his last 17 internationals.

Keeper Angus Gunn allowed a long-range equaliser from Bruno Fernandes to squirm through his grasp early in the second half and, although he atoned with a series of fine stops, he was beaten by Ronaldo after the Portuguese captain came off the bench at half-time.

Claiming his players deserved so much more for United against Celtic and Rangers, Ronaldo had never scored against a Scottish side, and Clarke could only watch in despair as he sealed this comeback victory after coming on at the interval.

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates in customary fashion after recording his 901st career goal

Scotland skipper Andy Robertson applauds the travelling support after another defeat

‘I’m disappointed to lose a game where it looked, for a large period, like we would get something from it,’ said the Scotland manager.

‘I’m really disappointed for my players because I think they deserved to get something from the game.

‘I reiterated to my players that we have to understand what part of the cycle we’re in, what we’re trying to build.

‘We’re trying to re-adjust after the summer. We can lose these matches to try and build and make sure that the end goal, as always, is to qualify for the tournament.

‘It would be nice to get some points, it would be nice to not concede late goals, but this is the level we’re at. The players understand how difficult it is to get results at this level.

‘If you ignore the results, (there are a lot of positives) but we’re professional, so it’s disappointing.

‘We played well in these two games but we don’t have anything to show for it. I’ve told the players not to be too hard on themselves. They have to understand the work that we’re doing.

Gunn congratulates opposite number Diogo Costa after a busy night in goals for Scotland

‘We’ll go away and analyse these games and hopefully we can give the lads a few pointers for the games next month, which don’t get any easier.

‘When you bring quality players from the bench like Roberto (Martinez) can do, you always know there’s a risk. But I felt we handled it well. 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.’

There were certainly positives to take from the game, but ultimately Clarke’s side are bottom of the group with no points from two games.

Their next opponents, Croatia, defeated Poland 1-0 in Osijek last night courtesy of a wonderful second-half free-kick from Real Madrid superstar Luka Modric.