Spain players have taken their Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Scotland grudgingly, criticising the way the referee handled the game, the approach of the opposition and, more bizarrely, the length of the Hampden Park grass.
Scott McTominay scored twice to hand Scotland their first win over Spain since 1984 on Tuesday night. The game also represents Spain's first loss in 38 European qualifying matches, a run which extends back to 2014 when they lost to Slovakia in qualifying for Euro 2016.
Clearly, having this record end didn't sit well within the Spanish camp, with Osasuna centre-back David Garcia, who made his Spain international debut against Scotland, blaming the poor result on the grass being too long at Hampden.
"We already saw that the grass was too long, and that cost us," Garcia told Marca after the game. "We can't make excuses for that, we have to look at ourselves and fix what we did wrong today."
Spain captain Rodri also criticised Scotland's approach to the game, complaining the way they played is "not football" and the referee should have intervened with the supposed antics of the Scottish players.
"We did many good things to win," he said on Viaplay. "We conceded easy goals - this is football, if you concede easy goals you are penalised.
"It's the way they play, but for me it's rubbish, always wasting time, provoking you, always they fall. For me, this is not football. The referee has to take on this, but he says nothing.
"We will learn for the next time. We want to go for duels, for battles - we always fight, but this is not about fighting. It's about wasting time - four, five players on the floor, but this depends on the referee, not on us."
Scotland's win sees them sitting top of Group A in qualifying for Euro 2024, after two games played. With the top two teams automatically making the tournament in Germany, Scotland have put themselves into a great position for the rest of the qualification process.
Georgia, Norway and Cyprus are also in Group A with Scotland and Spain.
