Ryan Porteous blasted for Scotland ‘stupidity’ by Neil McCann

Neil McCann has accused Ryan Porteous of “stupidity” after his red card against Germany.

Scotland were reduced to ten men while already 2-0 down to the Euro 2024 hosts in Munich when Porteous launched into a desperate tackle on Ilkay Gundogan in the box. The former Hibs star won the ball with his right foot, but caught Gundogan high with his studs up on the follow through with his left. After a VAR check, Clement Turpin awarded a spot kick and sent Porteous off.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side scored the spot kick and added another two goals after the break. It leaves Scotland needing to take at least four points in our remaining games against Switzerland and Hungary if we are to stay in the tournament. McCann admitted he was concerned about an incident like this when he saw Porteous had come into the team for Grant Hanley, but is sure Steve Clarke’s team simply can’t pay that badly again.

“There’s controlled aggression and there’s stupidity. The tackle from Ryan Porteous was something that I was very concerned about when I saw him come into the side.

“I don’t have a problem with the boy in terms of his ability. he’s good. Sometimes that natural instinct to just want to defend, I like that in a defender. But I used the word emotional last night. He’s too emotional when it comes to it. He has a rush of blood to the head.

“That is a shocking challenge. An absolutely shocking challenge. It was absolutely a red card and it did make it very difficult to try and keep the score down from then on in. But I believe we are better than what we showed last night, which is a crumb of comfort, that we can’t be that bad again.”