STUART Armstrong was injured as a Portugal team including his Saints teammate Cedric Soares won 3-1 against Scotland at Hampden Park tonight.

Former Celtic midfielder Armstrong, whose two starts for Saints were both in August, played 77 minutes – his longest run-out since the Carabao Cup win at Brighton seven weeks ago - before limping off.

The 26 year-old, who has only played 120 minutes in the Premier League since his £7m move from Celtic in the summer, showed the ability to burst past opponents, despite his lack of game time.

But he struggled with calf problems in the second half before being replaced by Kevin McDonald.

Armstrong and Soares were both recalled for the Hampden Park friendly, having been left out of Nations League matches on Thursday night, when ten-man Scotland lost 2-1 in Israel and Portugal won 3-2 away to Jan Bednarek’s Poland.

Cedric played the full 90 minutes for the European champions, while Armstrong was one of six changes made by Alex McLeish as Scotland aimed to atone for their embarrassing defeat against an Israel side ranked 94th in the world.

But Scotland were outclassed and the injury to Armstrong, who had been playing as a holding midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation, made it a bad night for his club, as well as country.

As former Scotland defender Stephen McManus said: “It’s a big ask for some of our players who aren’t playing week in, week out. Stuart Armstrong is a prime example.”

Meanwhile Jan Bednarek was denied a clean sheet at home to Italy as Poland lost 1-0 to an injury-time goal in the Uefa Nations League.

The Saints defender played the full match and looked to have helped earn Poland a valuable point before Cristiano Biraghi scored in the second minute of additional time.

Italy missed several chances before Biraghi secured them their first Nations League victory at the expense of the Poles, who are still without a win.