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Wales & Scotland set for epic clash to book place in Qatar... if they can hold their nerve in semis

WALES and Scotland are on a collision course for a place at next year’s World Cup finals.

And Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal might have to beat European champions Italy to get to Qatar too.

Wales and Scotland will meet in Cardiff in a play-off final next March if they can progress past one-legged home semi-finals with Austria and Ukraine respectively.

But the most eye-catching potential of yesterday’s draw in Switzerland was Italy on a path to face Euro 2016 winners Portugal.

Italy take on North Macedonia at home in the semis and Ronaldo and his compatriots host Turkey with the winners due to meet in Portugal.

Italian boss Roberto Mancini said: “It’s a very difficult draw for us.

“North Macedonia is a good team and if we win we have to play away.”

Wales are unbeaten in 11 competitive home games going back to 2018 after finishing second in Group E this month when they held Belgium in Cardiff.

They beat Austria 1-0 in their last meeting in September 2017 at the 33,000-capacity Cardiff City Stadium which is set to host the play-offs.

Dragons boss Rob Page (above) could not hide his delight at the draw after avoiding the most dangerous opponents, leaving Wales just two home games away from their first World Cup since 1958.

Page said: “If you had a wish, you would want two home games. The incentive is there for us. You anticipate the best scenario and I think we got it.

“We have seen the impact supporters have had in the recent campaign, our stadium was rocking. We have given ourselves a great opportunity and it is all to play for. Portugal and Italy are fantastic teams and you want to try and avoid the stronger teams.

“When you get one of the home nations in a potential play-off final

too, it puts a little more spice on it. We have to earn the right to get to that final and we will give everything with our supporters to make sure that happens.”

Scotland have not reached the World Cup finals since 1998 and manager Steve Clarke (above) said: “I don’t think it matters who we were going to get in the semi-final draw, it was always going to be tough.

“We will go away and do our homework on Ukraine and try to come up with a winning formula.”

And Clarke rebuffed suggestions that a potential derby clash with Wales could be a distraction ahead of the Ukraine game. He said: “We certainly won’t be distracted by it. We always treat our immediate opponents with the utmost respect.

“Over the winter months we will obviously have to prepare for either Wales or Austria and we’ll make sure we are well prepared for that if we manage to get through the first game.”

Russia or Poland will host Sweden or Czech Republic in the other pathway to Qatar.

The play-off semifinals and finals will be played from March 24 to 29 next year.