Be ugly even if Portugal is beautiful – Nevin

“Be ugly, even if Portugal is beautiful.”

That's easy to say for former Scotland winger Pat Nevin.

But that is the message from Nevin as Scotland prepare to welcome Cristiano Ronaldo and co to Hampden this evening.

Nevin, who won 28 caps for Scotland and scored five international goals, believes it would be “something special” if Steve Clarke could end a miserable run against a star-studded Portuguese side in the Nations League A game.

“There is understanding and acceptance among Scottish football fans: when you see real quality it is accepted, applauded and admired as long as they don't jump around and throw themselves on the ground,” Nevin told BBC Scotland.

“There are a hell of a lot of players to admire in this Portuguese team, especially from the middle to the forwards. Scotland fans, get involved, get behind the team and you never know, it's ugly to play against them, even if they are “beautiful.”

Even though the national team has not managed to win a competitive match in over a year, Nevin believes the players are still confident they are making progress as they try to prepare for next year's World Cup qualification.

“I don’t think the players are a problem, honestly I don’t think Clarke is a problem,” Nevin said.

“I think it's difficult to keep the fans on board but generally they've been pretty good. You can see that the vast majority of fans somehow get it. Some fans don't want it and say, 'Get someone else in.' “But the vast majority of the Tartan Army seem to understand that if you've qualified for two of the last three major tournaments, that's fine.

“Clarke got some time. The problem he has is whether this will continue. When one or two hiding spots reappear, as we saw against Germany and in the friendly against France.”

“It shouldn’t continue like this, something has to change. It would be nice if that changed against Portugal.”