Sid Lowe was at the Estadio de La Cartuja tonight, and his report has landed. Here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night. Steve Clarke talks to Viaplay. “I’m disappointed for the players … a really good performance … Spain know they were in a game … the game turned on a small margin … but we created some good chances … disappointed tonight, but we’re still in a good position … the players reacted OK … we coped reasonably well with the pressure … you can show the McTominay goal as much as you like but we’re not getting it … the second goal put an unfair shine on the game because we didn’t deserve to lose 2-0 … I don’t think we deserved to lose, to be fair … certainly in my tenure, going away to pot-one teams, you lose, sometimes heavily, so we’ve come here and lost, but it was a game, a proper game between two good teams … we wanted to do it tonight in front of the magnificent Tartan Army but we’ll have to wait … this team is improving and improving and improving … tonight is another step forward even though it’s a sore one … but we get ready for November.” McGinn also reports on the health of Andy Robertson, who departed just before half-time with his shoulder in a makeshift sling. “His shoulder doesn’t look great and he’s in a lot of pain … hopefully it’s not too serious and we’ll see him back soon.” A frustrated John McGinn speaks to Viaplay. “The big moments went against us … we put in some shift … it’s a tough one to take, losing Robbo early and then thinking you’re ahead … we competed for long spells … it’s very difficult to win here but under the circumstances it was near enough impossible … you need to be very careful what you say … everyone watching that game tonight from a Scotland point of view, it just felt like we weren’t getting the decisions … 50-50 decisions, 50-50 balls, going in for fair challenges and not getting them … it made it extremely difficult against a world-class team … the stats will show that they had a lot of the ball and a lot better chances … you need a perfect performance here to win and for everything to align, and tonight it was just never going to happen … [the referee] changed [the VAR decision] in-game, which is the frustrating game, it shows it’s not clear and obvious … he’s saying at one point it’s a foul, he then changes it because he realises it isn’t a foul … it’s a big moment … that qualifies us, so it’s a hammer blow … sometimes these things go for you but tonight it was never going to go for us.” A downcast but philosophical Scott McKenna speaks to Viaplay. “It’s obviously disappointing … there wasn’t too much in [McTominay’s] goal for that to be disallowed … we’d quietened their crowd … that goal being disallowed gave them a lift … Aaron Hickey has been brilliant for us and that was an unfortunate moment … unfortunately it went against us tonight … it’s still in our hands to top the group … we’ve got a couple of games next month that, if we win, we top the group … there’s a game this weekend between Spain and Norway that could go in our favour, so there’s that to look forward to as well.” That’s Scotland’s first defeat of their Group A campaign – their first dropped points, in fact – and it moves Spain to within two points of them at the top of the table. Thing is, Scotland won’t care a jot should Spain overtake them at the weekend … because if the Spanish win or draw in Norway on Sunday night, Steve Clarke’s team will qualify for Euro 2024 without kicking another ball. (Norway won 4-0 in Cyprus tonight to keep their slim hopes of pipping either Scotland or Spain alive.) If that doesn’t work in Scotland’s favour, they’ll have opportunities to get the precious point they’d still need for qualification in November, when they travel to Georgia before hosting Norway at Hampden in the final round of matches. It couldn’t come down to that, could it? Surely not: if Scotland continue to play like they did tonight, they’ll surely make it. And yet it doesn’t bear thinking about, does it. Luis De La Fuente almost apologetically hugs Steve Clarke. That’ll be a difficult one for the Scotland boss to process. His team were outplayed – as everyone expected, to be fair – but fought gallantly and looked to have taken the lead through Scott McTominay’s clever free kick. A classic smash-and-grab looked on. But VAR intervened, taking the goal away for the vaguest and softest reasons. Offside and interfering? Foul? Uefa couldn’t seem to make up their mind. Either way, it was debatable. A clear and obvious error it was most certainly not. But more than one thing can be true, and it’s also the case that on the balance of play, Spain were by far the better side, Scotland often requiring huge slices of luck to stay level, and Alvaro Morata’s finish for the opening goal was a delight. So it’s kind of the right result … the night simply took everyone on a strange journey to get there. FULL TIME: Spain 2-0 Scotland Yep, Scotland are so close, yet so far. 90 min +4: Spain play more keep-ball. Scotland, the wind out of a very moist sail, can’t be bothered to press. You can’t blame them. 90 min +2: The Spanish fans start with the olés. Let’s face it, they’re allowed to, they’ve been the better side and they invented the whole concept after all. 90 min +1: McGinn launches a long diagonal free kick into the mixer. McLean rises at the far stick and heads back across goal. Adams sticks out a weak leg to deflect the ball wide right. He should have scored. 90 min: Laporte is booked for putting a cynical shoulder on McTominay. There will be five additional minutes. 88 min: Porteous and McGregor are replaced by McLean and Gilmour. The latter’s first act is to clearly mouth “For fuck’s sake!” in a very frustrated manner. GOAL! Spain 2-0 Scotland (Porteous og 86) Scotland have been staunch in defence tonight, but this one was self-inflicted. Hickey is under no pressure whatsoever, only to slip near the corner flag on the right. Joselu tears off with the ball and crosses low. Porteous looks to have stopped Sancet slotting into an unguarded net, but his fine block turns into a ricochet that sends the ball dribbling apologetically into the net. 85 min: … latches onto a loose ball down the inside-right channel. He rounds Gunn and whips goalwards, only for Porteous to arrive out of nowhere and block! 84 min: Hendry is booked for excessive patter. Then Morata is replaced by Joselu, who … 83 min: … and another big opportunity is passed up. The ball drops to Armstrong, who attempts to force home only to be denied by Rodri’s block. Another throw, but this one doesn’t cause half as many problems for the hosts. Goal kick. 82 min: McGinn wins a corner for Scotland down the right. Nothing comes from it, but Scotland keep the pressure on and win a throw deep in Spanish territory. Porteous to fling long into a crowded box. 81 min: McGinn dances his way through the centre circle, evading a couple of Spanish challenges before rolling a pass wide left for Hickey. He’s got team-mates free in the box but opts to dribble into the area himself instead. His low shot-cum-cross is nearly prodded home from close range by Adams, but Simon is on point to snaffle. 79 min: A double change for Southampton Scotland: Che Adams and Stuart Armstrong come on for Dykes and Christie. “Tension? What tension?” asks Simon McMahon. “Mind you, I’m on my second bottle of VAR 69.” 77 min: Uefa have now changed their tune about the VAR decision. Hendry was offside, and interfering with play. To be fair, that’s slightly more understandable … though you can certainly make the case that Hendry didn’t have any influence on the play, because Simon was standing around doing absolutely nothing anyway. Who’d be an on-field referee these days, huh? 76 min: Laporte comes barging into the back of Christie and is fairly fortunate to escape a booking. “I have absolutely no love for the Scotland team, in fact I can’t stand them,” begins Samuel Campbell, who may or may not be a jaded Scotland supporter, it’s not necessarily as clear as it looks, “but if that goal has been disallowed for a foul on the keeper then that might be the worst decision I have seen for quite some time. Absolutely ridiculous.” 75 min: The scoreline doesn’t flatter Spain on the balance of play. In fact, if anything, it flatters Scotland. And yet the chalking off of McTominay’s goal was so ludicrous, Morata’s goal will feel like a bitter pill for Scotland to swallow. GOAL! Spain 1-0 Scotland (Morata 73) Jesus Navas makes good down the right. He crosses for Morata, who makes a run from deep to guide a cute header across Gunn and into the bottom left. Lovely goal, which had been coming since McTominay’s disallowed effort. 71 min: Spain are pressing hard. Torres skedaddles down the right and leaves Hickey for dust. His cutback is hacked clear by Hendry. “It’s a testament to the maturity of the Scottish team that they haven’t lost their heads following the goal being chalked off,” writes Kári Tulinius. “If anything, it’s La Furia Roja on whom the red mist has descended.” 69 min: Scotland deal with a Spain corner easily enough. Zaragoza hoicks a speculative cross out for a goal kick. Signs of frustration from Spain, who are used to winning these matches – they’ve won their last 23 Euro qualifiers on home soil. A couple of minutes previously, Morata lost his rag at McKenna for seemingly very little. The tension is palpable. 67 min: Merino and Carvajal are replaced by Jesus Navas and Oihan Sancet. Meanwhile Erling Haaland has scored again in Cyprus: it’s 3-0 to Norway. 66 min: Confirmation from Uefa that the goal was disallowed for a foul by Hendry, rather than the same player straying offside. The push was minimal and Spain have been handed a huge gift there. 65 min: Erling Haaland has made it 2-0 to Norway in Cyprus. So if Scotland are to qualify tonight, they’ll need to hold on for a point here. 63 min: The home crowd were shocked into silence before McTominay’s “goal”. Now they’re up for it again. Spain have got away with one there. Soft, soft, soft, and so generous from the VAR and the referee. “Absolutely diabolical decision,” writes James Humphries. VAR: Spain 0-0 Scotland The goal’s ruled out. Hendry is adjudged to have shoved Simon into the net as the ball flew past the pair of them and into the net. That’s such a soft decision, and McTominay is furious, slamming the water bottle he’s drinking from into the ground. Hendry barely touched the keeper. GOAL! Spain 0-1 Scotland (McTominay 59) McTominay takes. He whips a shot-cum-cross through the six-yard box. It sails over everyone’s head and into the top right! McTominay can do nothing wrong right now, and Scotland are on for the mother of all smash and grabs here! 58 min: Carvajal is booked for tugging back Christie, the Scotland man having nicked the ball off his toe. Free kick, just to the left of the Spain box, a couple of yards from the byline. And from the free kick … 57 min: Torres whips a cross in from the right. Morata is free at the back stick, but strangely fails to throw himself at the ball. Gunn wouldn’t have been able to intervene. 56 min: Carvajal floats in a cross from the right. Morata brings it down on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box and sends Porteous off for some oranges. He wedges a lovely diagonal shot across Gunn and towards the top right. Had it been on target, Gunn was completely impotent. But the ball sails over the bar. Just. Spain have done just about everything other than score. 54 min: Zaragoza is causing all sorts of trouble. He is sensational. His dribble down the left is deflected out for a corner. From that, Laporte barges McTominay over. Free kick, though McTominay wanted some colour-card-based punishment meted out. The referee is quite rightly not interested. 53 min: Some pinball outside the Spain box. Scotland get the lucky bounce and suddenly McGinn pokes through the middle for Christie, who would be clear in the box had the ball not pinged off his shin. 51 min: Out on the left, Zaragoza attempts to beat Patterson on the outside. Patterson sticks out an arm and brushes the winger. Zaragoza goes down in the potato-sack style, buying a cheap free kick … hey, these things happen … though the resulting yellow card for the Scotland full-back is a bit much. Compare and contrast with the McGinn-Carvajal incident, in almost the same place during the first half. 49 min: Zaragoza is immediately into the thick of the action, dribbling infield from the left and sailing past McTominay with ease. He curls for the top right. Just wide, just over. What an impact that would have been! 47 min: Free kick for Scotland. McGinn launches long. Porteous wins the header but Simon claims the second ball. No collateral damage this time. Spain get the second half underway. Alejandro Balde and Mikel Oyarzabal make way for Fran García and the exciting Granada winger Bryan Zaragoza. Half-time entertainment. It’s half-time at the AEK Arena in Larnaca as well. Norway lead Cyprus 1-0 thanks to Alexander Sørloth’s deflected shot. HALF TIME: Spain 0-0 Scotland As things stand, Scotland are on for the point that will qualify them for Euro 2024. They’ve been holding on by their fingernails, though, and have lost their captain Andrew Robertson to what looks a serious shoulder/arm/collarbone injury. It could be a long second 45 for Steve Clarke’s men. 45 min +3: Merino loses possession to McTominay, who threatens to start a counter. Merino lunges in cynically and goes straight into the book. 45 min +2: Patterson attempts to usher a ball out for a goal kick. Balde steals it away from him before the whole of the ball crosses the line. Brilliant from Balde, but Porteous comes across to steal it back. Patterson clearly not quite up to speed yet. 45 min +1: The first of four added minutes passes by without incident. 45 min: Now it’s McGregor who needs some treatment, Carvajal having skelped a shot straight into his startled face. Happily he’s up and smiling again soon enough. 43 min: … and off goes Robertson, holding his arm and shoulder gingerly. Hopefully it looks worse than it is, but they didn’t take long to make that decision, Robertson clearly unable to continue. A dislocation or worse? Scotland – and Liverpool – will be hoping not. News if and when we have it. 41 min: Robertson takes a free kick out on the right. The ball’s worked infield before being sent back towards him. Robertson jumps to compete for a high ball. Simon comes across and claims, drops, and cleans the Scotland captain out. Free kick to Spain, according to Goalkeeper’s Rules. Anywhere else on the pitch and you’d surely be wondering about a free kick to Scotland. But more seriously, Robertson doesn’t get back up. On comes the physio …