Steve Clarke said Scotland were denied a clear penalty as they suffered a heartbreaking late defeat to Hungary and crashed out of Euro 2024 in the group stage.
Kevin Csoboth’s breakaway goal put Hungary third in Group A and brought Scotland’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages for the first time in their history to an end in Stuttgart.
But Clarke described Csoboth’s 100th minute winner as “irrelevant” and said the “big moment” of the game was the non-award of a penalty in the second half when Stuart Armstrong went down in the box.
Armstrong, who was sent on as Scotland tried to find the late winner that would send them through, was brought down under the challenge of Hungary defender Willi Orban.
But referee Facundo Tello waved play on and the VAR did not intervene to the dismay of Clarke and the Scotland bench in what was a close game in the Group A decider.
“100 per cent,” Clarke said when asked if Scotland should have had a penalty. “Someone has to explain why it’s not. It was a one-goal game. We get the penalty it could be a different night.
“I’ve got other words but I’m not going to use them.”
The Euro 2024 match was officiated by Argentine referee Tello, who became only the second non-European referee to charge of a match at the European Championship,
Tello’s selection for the tournament is part of a collaboration between Uefa and their South American counterparts Conmebol, but Clarke said it would had been “better” if the referee was European.
However, Clarke also countered that by pointing out that the VAR, Alejandro Hernández, was Spanish and did not intervene.
“It’s a European competition,” Clarke said. “Maybe it’s better to have a European referee. But we had a European VAR and maybe the referee didn’t see the challenge clear on the pitch, so what’s the purpose of VAR if they are not going to come in for something like that. It was a penalty.”
Scotland exit the Euros at the group stages for the second tournament in a row and have still not won a game at the European Championship finals in six attempts under Clarke, after defeats to Hungary and Germany and a draw against Switzerland.
“We gave it everything and can’t fault the effort,” Clarke said. “It was a tough opponent and the game was always going to be decided by one goal. It opened up and chased the win but got caught on the counter.”
Scotland only had one attempt on goal in the first half of the match they had to win and Clarke said his next goal is to improve Scotland’s attack. “The first half is what it was,” he said. “We didn’t create enough.”
