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Scotland fans and Steve Clarke fume at being denied penalty and knocked out of Euros by Hungary

Scotland fans and Steve Clarke fume at being denied a penalty and knocked out of Euros by Hungary on Sunday night.

Scots’ were left heartbroken right at the end of the game, as a stoppage-time goal from Kevin Csoboth in the 100th minute after Barnabas Varga was stretchered off meant Clarke’s side were unable to progress at Euro 2024, and have still never made it past the group stage of a major competition.

Scotland boss Steve Clarke felt should have been given when Hungary’s Willi Orban challenged Stuart Armstrong in the 1-0 defeat. Much of social media, pundits, and viewers at hope debated as to whether they thought it should have been a spot kick or not.

While Clarke expressed sympathy with the official, he said VAR’s decision not to intervene after viewing replays of the incident was inexplicable.

“100 per cent penalty,” he said in his press conference, as per Sky Sports. “Somebody somewhere has to explain to me why that’s not a penalty. It’s 100 per cent a penalty.

“It’s 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.

“It’s a European competition, it might have been better to have a European referee. The VAR was European, maybe the referee didn’t see the foul clearly on the pitch, but what’s the point in VAR if they’re not going to come in on something like that. It was a penalty.”

Scotland realistically needed to win the game to have any certainty of qualifying for the knockout stages, but they failed to register a single shot on target until the 98th minute, while three of their four shots in total came after the 90th minute.

Clarke continued: “It’s very difficult to sit here and analyse, but sometimes after a defeat like that you need a bit of time just to digest everything and work out how the game went, why it went how it did.

“We didn’t create enough, but we did create enough to score a goal. That’s clear. Is that why we went out of the tournament?

“We scored two goals this tournament, we scored one last time. It’s one for me to go away and talk to my coaches about, about how we can score more goals at certain times in games of course.”

Hungary manager Marco Rossi said: “The Scottish had a bit more ball possession, especially in the first half. In the second half it was more an up-and-down match, starting from around the 70th minute, almost 30 minutes in which there were situations from one side to the other.

“We can say that it was an equal match. Surely we had more chances, they had more of the ball, but overall I don’t think we didn’t deserve to win. It was deserved.”

On Scotland’s penalty, Rossi added: “In the pre-match I said there was a clear foul on Orban by Gundogan, why do we have to talk now about this moment?

“I didn’t see it well from the bench, but if they didn’t give the penalty in the VAR room, they have seen it was not a penalty. Many pushes from the back in the European Championship are allowed.”

One fan said to Mail Sport: ‘Steve Clarke, sorry son, but you’ve got to go, you’re f***ing useless, I’m sick of this s***.

‘I’ve spent about 10 grand to come here. It’s a f***ing joke, and you didn’t have a shot on target. Out.’

‘We’ve all come out we’ve enjoyed ourselves, the Hungarian fans have been great. It’s just a bit disappointing. That’s all it is,’ the fan said to Mail Sport.

‘There’s a lot of people that are angry, but I’m not angry – I just wished they’d played a wee bit better.

‘Our injuries, we had five of our best players out before today. Then you had [John] McGinn coming off, [Andy] Robertson coming off.’

When questioned if Clarke got it wrong, the fan replied: ‘No, no no. I always have faith in Stevie Clarke. He’s got us to two Euros. When was the last time we were at the Euros? 96. We were at the World Cup in 98.

‘We didn’t get any shots either, but I don’t think that’s the problem, what you’re forgetting is that our injury list was so bad. We’re not like England or Italy…’

He was then interrupted by another fellow Scot: ‘Steve Clarke out – hopeless,’ then the supporter being interviewed disagreed, saying: ‘See that is just ridiculous.’

This is how Twitter users reacted as Scotland fans and Steve Clarke fume at being denied penalty and knocked out of Euros by Hungary…

@Bettingtop10I: £10k to be there and get that performance is shocking to be totally honest.

@RealisticGnome: Why did that dude spend £10,000? I mean, you could get a cheap flight for about £50, book into a hostel for about £15 a night.. 🤣

@ray_gritt: There are 2 types of football fans 😂😂

@BlueBlood2510: Why do people moan about how much they spent when travelling to a game? Overseas or at home there are no guarantees they’ll win. Attending a game anywhere in any competition or league is a choice. No one twisted your arm 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Kojoboy10: Imagine spending 10k on Scotland and thinking something good would come out from it..

@JBTEvans: £10k on Germany? Went to Qatar for nearly 2 weeks and stayed on the cruise ship for 5 days and didn’t cost me half of that.

@_mstephenson88: Ten grand? 🤣🤣🤣 you staying at the players hotel for 12 weeks?

@jtpar: £10,000. You’ve been on the sauce booking flights then pal.

@nickofwigan: Oohhhh yes sir, you can book it, you can book the flight back home! You can book it, book it book it!

@jimmc2702: I mean, ffs! If you spend 10k following Scotland you should know the script by now and deserve everything you get!

@greigspence: Pull Steve Clarke in tomorrow and sack him. Most talented squad of players in my life time we have had and he’s the most negative backwards managers you could employ – sack him . Hopeless 👍 a million miles off it .

@scotlandscoeff1:
Phenomenal achievement from Steve Clarke to get us to back-to-back Euros after more than 20 years of under achievement
But
2 points out of a possible 18 over the 2 tournaments
0 shots on target in 2 out of 3 games at this tournament
Not good enough and so disappointing

@JakeTS_: Steve Clarke has been absolutely fantastic for us. Superb. Played some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen for Scotland. However there comes a time in every Manager’s reign where they can’t take us any further. Think Clarke has hit the wall. Time for a shake up. Moyes for me.

@TheQuietKid18: Nothing less than Steve Clarke deserves. Bottom of the group. No goalscorer in 3 games. A run of form that’s absolutely criminal. But people will keep going on about how he got them qualified but not mention how easy it’s become for teams to do so. A horrendous manager.

@splbanter: Steve Clarke has done a great job.. he got us to back to back Euro’s and won a nations league group.. even his biggest critics can’t deny that. but it is a fair shout to say maybe he’s taken us as far as he can and it’s time to give someone else a go.

@Alex0810BC: Steve Clarke sat back in a must win game for 83 minutes. Anyone that backs him hates the country.

@_CM_67_: That result just confirms what everyone should know. Steve Clarke’s time at Scotland is done 👍🏻Totally negative football and wasting genuinely talented players. We need someone fresh.

@liam_buchanan9: How Steve Clarke can set up like that and approach a must win game being so negative.. Hungary are no side to fear, not a single shot on target it’s embarrassing!! Not to have 2 up, no runners behind just utter rubbish!!!! Negative negative way of playing

@alf123_2: If steve clarke didn’t earn the sack with that dross he calls football then he’s absolutely earned it now with a xenophobic tirade towards the ref.

@jsu2316: Hopefully that’s Steve Clarke’s last game in charge. Lack of urgency been absolutely pathetic and certain players blatantly not up to it at this level. Fresh ideas needed.

@josesantanna97: Get Clarke out & get a young manager who wants to win games, not just see them out, honestly never want to watch another minute of Steve Clarke’s Scottish football.

@josesantanna97: Can not be understated how boring Steve Clarke has made the football this tournament, in arguably one of the easiest paths to qualification we’ve ever had.

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