Steve Clarke said Scotland showed what a good team they were despite a late defeat in Spain, while John McGinn was furious with Scott McTominay’s disallowed ‘opener’.
Clarke saw his side’s perfect run of five straight wins end in late heartbreak at Sevilla, with Alvaro Morata and Oihan Sancet giving the hosts a 2-0 win after McTominay’s free-kick was ruled out by VAR.
A draw would have been enough for the Tartan Army to secure their qualification for next year’s European Championships, but they can still reach the final if Spain score at least a point in their next qualifying match, against third-placed Norway in Oslo. Sunday.
“We came here to show that we are a good team and I think tonight we showed that,” Clarke said.
“Tonight was our first chance to qualify, maybe the result on Sunday night will be in our favor and we can qualify from there. But we don’t qualify because of this result, we Let’s qualify thanks to the work we did to have 15 points in six games.
“That’s why we will qualify if a result suits us this weekend. If it doesn’t suit us and Norway wins, then we have a very realistic chance for the two matches in November to win this section and that is what we have I’m going to focus on.
“We can be happy with our performance, but the guys are really disappointed that we lost the game because we didn’t come here to lose.
“It’s a VAR decision that goes against you, you just have to move on. At that stage of the game we were fine. The second goal gives Spain a bit of shine, I’m not sure I deserved it because we had good chances.”
Scotland added that it was too early to give a diagnosis on the severity of the shoulder injury suffered by Liverpool captain and defender Andy Robertson, who was forced to use his jersey as a makeshift sling shortly after. before halftime.
“It always seems to happen when you lose a player in a position,” he said. “We lose Kieran (Tierney) and then Andy has a shoulder injury.
“We’ll see how it goes and how it settles. I hope he’ll be good for his club as soon as possible and ready to help us in November.”
During the match, Clarke had urged his players to remain calm amid the controversy surrounding McTominay’s disallowed goal, which was overturned after a lengthy VAR review.
At the time, TV footage showed he was sent off for a Jack Hendry foul on Unai Simon – but later replays showed he was penalized for offside and obstructed the goalkeeper Spanish.
Talk to ViaplayVice-captain McGinn said: “He changed it during the game, which was frustrating. It shows it’s not clear and obvious.
“At that moment, Jack makes the decision to cross over to the other side. Will he save him? No chance, absolutely no chance.
“At first he says it’s a foul, then he changes it to offside when he realizes it’s not a foul.
“It’s a hammer blow that qualifies us for this goal. They have to score two. I feel for the great Scott (McTominay), but sometimes these things work out for you and tonight it never did.
“We can’t be too disappointed. We wanted to qualify tonight and we were able to. We don’t want other teams to do it, we want to do it ourselves.
The big moments worked against us. There is no doubt that we can still improve, but we have made changes.
“We knew a point would get us there, and it’s really hard to take with a big blow to lose Robbo so early.
“Then thinking we were ahead, going against us, we regrouped but they scored the first game. Maybe we can defend that better, but it’s tough to take.
“We have competed for long periods, it is difficult to win here but in the circumstances it was almost impossible.
“Everyone watching this game from a Scotland perspective, on the pitch, in the stands, in the dugout, felt like we weren’t going to make a decision.
“50-50 balls, going into fair challenges and not getting them, it was extremely difficult to get anything against a world-class team.
“It takes a perfect performance to win here, and that will never happen.”
Analysis: Were Scotland unlucky not to score?
Former Scotland international David Marshall on Sky Sports News:
“It’s an incredible free kick into the top corner, but Hendry is half a meter offside and unfortunately interferes with the keeper.
“It’s a huge relief for Spain, but it will give Scotland great confidence.
“It’s a foul, it affects Simon’s positioning, he crosses it and makes a very small contact, but it affects the goalkeeper and is in an offside position when it happens, so they can’t have any complaints , but it is. very unfortunate.
“It was an incredible effort, Spain dominated possession, had three or four clear chances during the game.
“Scotland had a few chances and the goal was disallowed in the second half, but Spain are one of the best teams in Europe, especially at home, it’s a difficult place for anyone.
“But Scotland are still in a good position to win the group, but some lapses in concentration and an unlucky mistake from Hickey cost them the second goal.
“It was always going to be a difficult evening, but they equipped themselves well, dug in, managed to get through the first half, but with that domination of possession that Spain had finally left behind them.
“Everyone would have clapped their hands for the position they are in now, it would have been great to get to Germany tonight, but I have no doubt Scotland will be there, whether it’s this weekend or the month next.
“Steve has built a great team, with great belief to come here and defend very well. They were unfortunate not to take the lead tonight and it would have been interesting to see how the game would have gone then .
“Lots of positives though and let’s see how Spain and Norway do this weekend…”
McKenna: disallowed goal gave them a boost
Scottish defender Scott McKenna on Viaplay:
“It’s disappointing, when we score that goal I don’t think there was much reason for it to be disallowed. If it remains a goal it changes the game considerably in our favor.
“We calmed their crowd down and denying them the goal gave them a boost and let them get back into it.
“Aaron (Hickey) has been brilliant since he came in for us, it’s unfortunate. (Ryan) Porteous almost bails him out but the clearance hits their man and goes in.
“It’s still in our hands to top the group, there are a few games next month and if we win them we will.
“Obviously there’s a game this weekend between Spain and Norway that could also go in our favor, so there’s still a lot to look forward to.