Portugal have been well and truly warned not to take the threat of North Macedonia lightly as they face Italy’s conquerors in a decisive World Cup qualifying play-off on Tuesday.

The Balkan nation stunned Italy in their play-off semi-final in Palermo on Thursday, winning 1-0 thanks to an Aleksandar Trajkovski goal in stoppage time, meaning the reigning European champions failed to qualify for a second consecutive World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal side, who preceded Italy as European champions in 2016, might have been bracing themselves for the prospect of a decisive showdown with the Azzurri but instead North Macedonia will be the visitors to the Estadio do Dragao in Porto, with the winners going to Qatar.

“At the moment football is different. Anybody can beat anybody. Names, numbers and statistics don’t matter,” warned veteran Portugal midfielder Joao Moutinho when asked about facing the country of two million people ranked a modest 67th in the world.

“We have to show on the pitch that we have more quality and impose our own game.”

Portugal survived a scare to beat Turkey 3-1 in their semi-final, almost throwing away a two-goal lead as Burak Yilmaz missed a late penalty for the visitors before Matheus Nunes secured the hosts’ victory.