Alves and Almeida both bagged their first ever international goals for Portugal either side of Azerbaijan captain Aslan Karimov's dismissal for a cynical elbow on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Portugal coach Scolari, serving the first game of a three-match ban for lashing out at Serbia defender Ivica Dragutinovic in last month's qualifier in Lisbon, was forced to watch from distance.

However, the Portugal players seemed to cope well enough without their manager.

Almeida almost put his side ahead with a header on 11 minutes following Ronaldo's inswinging free-kick, but Azerbaijan goalkeeper Farhad Veliyev did well to push the striker's effort behind for a corner.

From the resulting setpiece, Portugal did take the lead.

Deco floated the ball into the area and Bruno Alves rose at the far post to head the ball back past Veliyev to give the visitors a precious advantage.

Scolari's side continued to threaten. Ricardo Quaresma, Deco and Ricardo Carvalho all came close for the Portuguese, but were unable to take advantage.

But Portugal were given a huge boost on 29 minutes when Azerbaijan were reduced to 10 men after Karimov's elbow caught Ronaldo in the face.

Ronaldo then saw a shot well saved by Veliyev and hit the post as Portugal sought to double their lead.

They did so in the dying seconds of the half when Almeida stretched out his left leg to volley home Miguel's right-wing cross from point-blank range.

After the break, Portugal continued to dominate.

Deco and Maniche saw shots blocked by the Azerbaijan defence and Quaresma was just off target.

At the other end, Branimir Subashic had a header well saved by Ricardo as Azerbaijan searched for a way back.

Subashic was troubling the visitors' defence and forced Ricardo into another fine stop with 20 minutes remaining.

But Portugal still looked the more likely to score and substitute Nani wasted two excellent chances late on, firing over and forcing Veliyev to save.

Nani's Old Trafford team-mate Ronaldo should also have got on the scoresheet but saw his shot pushed against the post by Veliyev.

Miguel Veloso was then also denied by the busy Azerbaijan keeper and Ronaldo saw his shot sail wide.