Eat humble pie and say the better team won, Alex McLeish tells Spain

Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish told Spain to “eat the humble pie” after skipper Rodri led complaints about the home team’s tactics at Hampden.

The Manchester City midfielder branded Scotland’s approach “rubbish” following his side’s 2-0 defeat in the Euro 2024 qualifiers in Glasgow.

Rodri accused Scotland of provoking his team-mates and time-wasting by staying down.

Debutant David Garcia also claimed that the grass was too long and that made the game difficult.

McLeish told Sky Sports News: “Come on, get a grip guys, just eat the humble pie and say the better team won on the night.

“They will be really urgently looking to get the game in Spain and make up for it. That’s the way football goes.

“Scotland won deservedly and Spain should just eat that pie and get on with it.”

One of the Scotland players who went down was Kieran Tierney and the Arsenal defender ultimately had to come off because of a foot knock which came from a studs-up challenge from Rodri.

Former Scotland forward James McFadden branded the Spain captain a sore loser.

Speaking about the midfielder’s comments, McFadden told Sky: “I thought it was poor, I really did. Yes, towards the end of the game there were players going down, but they had put so much into the game, so much effort, there were players going down with injury.

“But I think he has to look at his own team and their antics in the first half in particular: throwing themselves to the ground, trying to get players sent off, trying to win penalties, trying to get players booked.

“It’s sour grapes. I expected a bit more class from him.

“And Spain were wasting their own time. The amount of times they were kicking the ball out the park in the second half, I think they just wanted to see the final whistle.

“Tactically Steve Clarke and the players got it spot on: frustrated Spain for large spells, scored a couple of really good goals and created another few good chances as well. I don’t think this was a smash and grab by any means – it was a well-deserved victory.”

Andy Robertson was one of the Scotland players who were booked. The Scotland captain faced an anxious wait following a clash with Pedro Porro as the Tottenham player rolled around the floor before a yellow card was shown.

Former Newcastle forward Joselu also made two dramatic falls in the penalty box before his claims were dismissed following VAR checks and Robertson countered Rodri’s comments on Tuesday night.

Speaking to Viaplay, the Liverpool left-back said: “I think they were going down a little bit easily.

“Look, we were always going to try to be physical, we wanted to be in their faces, we wanted to win our headers, we wanted to win our challenges and I think we did that. I don’t think we crossed the line.

“They were, especially in the first half, rolling about a wee bit much, but they used their experience and they got a couple of us booked, which is fair enough to them.

“But I think we did win that battle and we maybe got under their skin a wee bit, especially in the first half.”

Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd also took Rodri to task and insisted the home team were worthy winners.

Although Spain dominated possession, Scotland had nine shots at goal to the visitors’ eight and both had three on target, while Spain committed 15 fouls to the home team’s 13.

Boyd told Sky: “I hope Pep (Guardiola) has got some new dummies ready for Rodri when he gets back to Manchester City because he definitely spat them out, that’s for sure.

“I think it shows how far Scotland have come under Steve Clarke, because when you have got top nations like Spain making excuses for the length of the grass and fouling…

“I get the fact they were disappointed that they lost the game, but Scotland were deserved winners. It wasn’t a fluke.”