Scotland coach Steve Clarke has referred to Facundo Tello and asked why the Argentinian was a referee at the European Championship after his team were denied a penalty against Hungary last night.
Full-back Stuart Armstrong appeared to be beaten by Willi Orban in the second half which again clearly showed the Hungarian full-back’s link with the Scottish midfielder.
Tello called the match up and the VAR team refused to referee it. Scotland pushed for the win they needed late on but were dealt a sucker punch as Kevin Csoboth scored for Hungary in the 10th minute of injury time.
Defeat means Scotland finish bottom of Group A and out of the competition.
A furious Clarke told BBC Scotland: “The match-time is a penalty. It is 100 percent fine.
“Someone must explain to me why that is not a sentence because if it is not, I think something is wrong.”
Alan Shearer has criticized the decision not to give Scotland a pack-kick against Hungary.
“That to me is a clear penalty!” #BBEuros #Euro2024 #SCOHUN pic.twitter.com/ypuN2jo8NH
-BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 23, 2024
Asked if he had spoken to the referee, he continued: “What are we doing? He is from Argentina. What is the point? Why is he not a European referee?
“I don’t understand why he is here and not in his country to referee this game.
“I don’t understand how VAR can look at that and say it’s not a penalty, it’s just my opinion.”
Although Scotland had reason to be upset, that does not hide their poor performance which saw them register one shot on target, even in injury time.
“A difficult night for us, a difficult night. We couldn’t do what we wanted to do,” Clarke admitted.
“We all suffer together, we are sad. We are saddened as fans because in the end we are fans, we want to do well for our country.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t our night.”
Scotland failed to enter again
Defeat meant Scotland’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage for the first time in a major competition were dashed.
Midfielder Callum McGregor said: “It’s very disappointing. There was so much hope and anticipation, we thought this was going to be the time we did it.
“The players gave everything but sometimes in football the ball just doesn’t fall where you need it. That was probably the case tonight.
“The point was not enough, it would have been a big task to go through with two points. We knew we had to try to win the game. You throw everything at it and get hit in the counter-attack. That goal was almost useless.
“We have not been in these competitions for a long time. Build all the time and sometimes you have to face disappointment to understand the level.
“We definitely had confidence and faith that we could do the job. Hungary made it a tough game, as we knew they would, and they got a moment of quality that we never did.”
