Scotland boss Steve Clarke insists his side "did not deserve to lose" to Spain in their Euro 2024 qualifier.
Goals from Alvaro Morata and Oihan Sancet saw the hosts run out 2-0 winners in Seville which means the 60-year-old's team will have to wait until at least Sunday to find out if they have reached next summer's tournament in Germany.
However, there was VAR controversy after Scott McTominay thought he had put the visitors in front from a free kick.
The referee was asked to review Jack Hendry's interaction with Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon and appeared to rule the goal out originally for a foul before UEFA then confirmed the decision was that the defender had interfered with play from an offside position.
Speaking to ViaPlay Sports, Clarke said: "I am disappointed for the players. [They] put in a really good performance, and Spain knew they were in a game.
"We came here to show that and obviously, the game turned on a small margin. If it is offside or a foul... I do not know what he gave it for, to be honest.
READ MORE: Sheepish Rodri backtracks on 'rubbish' Scotland remark
"I think because he [Hendry] is offside and steps toward the goalkeeper, maybe because he makes contact with the goalkeeper, they have given the offside but it is small margins.
"Instead of being 1-0 up, we are 1-0 down 15 minutes later and then it is a tough night. It is disappointing but we are still in a good position.
Despite the defeat, the Scotland manager made clear that he was proud of how his team handled the goal being disallowed and praised them for their professionalism.
"It is always difficult when you think you have scored a goal and someone takes it off you," he continued.
"It is disappointing to lose the goal [Spain's opener] but we coped reasonably well with the pressure and you can watch the McTominay goal as much as you like, we are not getting it.
"It is gone and you have to try and move on. I think we did that, and the second goal was really unfortunate as it puts an unfair light on the game as I do not think we deserved to lose 2-0.
"I do not think we deserved to lose, to be fair."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel