Scotland missed out on becoming the first country other than hosts Germany to book their place at Euro 2024 on Thursday night, losing 2-0 in Spain thanks to a pair of second half goals.
The Scots had been in blistering form since the qualifying process began seven months ago, winning each of their first five games – including a 2-0 victory over Spain at Hampden Park.
Those results had put them on the brink of Euro 2024 and a second successive European Championship finals after Euro 2020 had ended a 23-year absence from major tournaments.
Victory at La Cartuja in Sevilla would have guaranteed Steve Clarke’s team their place at the Euros with two qualifying games to spare next month. Alternatively, a draw would have been enough to secure one of the two automatic places had Norway also failed to beat Cyprus.
As it happens, Spain took the three points thanks to goals from Alvaro Morata and Oihan Sancet. Norway also claimed victory in Cyprus, winning 4-0 in a game that saw Erling Haaland score two.
Scotland were up against it in Spain when captain Andrew Robertson was forced off near the end of the first half with a shoulder injury suffered in a collision with goalkeeper Unai Simon.
They did well to frustrate Spain and even thought they had taken the lead with a Scott McTominay free-kick – but that was ruled out as Jack Hendry came into contact with Simon in an offside position.
Morata’s header as the game entered the final quarter put Spain ahead, before Sancet punished Aaron Hickey’s defensive slip to seal the result with four minutes plus stoppage time left.
Despite the minor setback, Scotland are still extremely likely to make it to Euro 2024 with little trouble and could even qualify as soon as Sunday without even playing when Spain and Norway go head-to-head in Oslo.
Should Spain win that, having already claimed a 3-0 win in the reverse fixture back on matchday one, it would send them above Scotland and through to the finals, but also mean that Norway cannot catch Scotland either – their remaining games are against Georgia and Norway next month
GK: Simon (7); RB: Carvajal (6), CB: Le Normand (7), CB: Laporte (7), LB: Balde (6); CM: Gavi (7), CM: Rodri (8), CM: Merino (7); RW: Torres (6), ST: Morata (8), LW: Oyarzabal (5)
Subs: Zaragoza (6), F.Garcia (6), Sancet (7), Navas (7), Joselu (n/a)
Subs not used: Kepa (GK), Raya (GK), Torres, D.Garcia, Zubimendi, Ruiz, Fati
GK: Gunn (5); RB: Hickey (4), CB: Porteous (6), CB: Hendry (5), CB: McKenna (6), LB: Robertson (6); RM: McGinn (7), CM: McTominay (7), CM: McGregor (6), LM: Christie (6); ST: Dykes (6)
Subs: Patterson (6), Adams (6), Armstrong (5), Gilmour (n/a), McLean (n/a)
Subs not used: Clark (GK), Kelly (GK), Cooper, Souttar, Taylor, Ferguson, Brown
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