Portugal will rest Cristiano Ronaldo for their final Nations League game in Croatia....and the Tartan Army will be alarmed to discover his replacement is former Rangers flop Fabio Silva.

And boss Roberto Martinez has also told three other key stars - Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, Manchester City key man Bernardo Silva and Pedro Neto of Chelsea - they will be rested for the game in Split.

Scotland still have a chance of finishing in second place depending on last game results, but they need group winners Portugal to win in Croatia.

However, Martinez has opted for heavy squad rotation and Ronaldo, who scored two goals in their 5-1 win over Poland, won't travel to the Balkans along with the Premier League trio.

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And they may have to rely on Silva to help them win in Croatia.

Silva has won his first call-up for the national side after scoring three goals in La Liga for Las Palmas in eight games in Spain.

Last season, he joined Rangers on loan from Wolves and his performances were derided after just four Premiership goals in 18 appearances.

Martinez said: "There will be squad management for the game in Croatia.

"In modern football, there is one team that starts and another that finishes.

"It's November and I think that overloading the players is a responsibility that we need to be aware of."

And Ronaldo, who scored his 135th international goal in his 217th appearance, admitted he was tracking the progress of the Scotland game.

He said: "We knew at half time when it was 0-0 that Croatia had a man sent off in Scotland so we had to go for it in the second half and we did well.

"Our goal is to win the Nations League again."