Scotland suffer narrow loss to Spain in Seville

Scorers

Spain 2 (Morata 73') (Sancet 86')

Scotland 0

Team News

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke made three changes from his side's defeat to England. Scott McKenna replaced the injured Kieran Tierney, while Ryan Christie and Lyndon Dykes came in for Billy Gilmour and Che Adams.

As It Happened

In the heat of Seville it was Spain who started the brighter, with Ferran Torres firing just wide of the post before Alvaro Morata also headed off target from a corner.

As the first half wore on, the hosts dominated possession without creating much in the way of clear-cut chances as Scotland defended well.

Scotland showed flashes and were unfortunate not to be awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box when John McGinn appeared taken out by Dani Carvajal.

Spain came close again just after the half hour mark when Mikel Merino tried his luck from just outside the box but his low fizzing effort came back off the post. 

Scotland suffered a blow shortly before half-time as captain Andy Robertson was unable to continue after suffering a blow to the arm after a collision with Unai Simon. He was replaced by Nathan Patterson.

The hosts introduced Bryan Zaragoza at half-time and he looked lively as the second half began, flashing a shot over the bar.

John McGinn then almost played in Ryan Christie as Scotland threatened with a neat move on the counter-attack.

Moments later, it was great work from Christie in winning a foul from Carvajal that almost resulted in Scotland taking the lead.

From the resulting free-kick, Scott McTominay stepped up and curled a gorgeous free-kick into the far corner from a tight angle. 

However, following a VAR review, the goal was disallowed with referee Serdar Gözübüyük appearing to adjudge that Jack Hendry had interfered with goalkeeper Simon from an offside position.

Spain brought on Jesus Navas and it was the substitute who made the difference, crossing for Morata who made the breakthrough on 73 minutes with a glancing header.

Scotland rallied though, and Che Adams did well to get a deflection on Aaron Hickey's low shot but Simon was able to grasp.

But it was not to be for the Scots, as Oihan Sancet slid in with Ryan Porteous and the ball ended up in the back of the net.

Scotland pushed to get back into the game but were unable to get back into the match as Spain held on to secure the victory.

Next Up

Scotland travel to Lille to face France on Tuesday night in a friendly. Our next competitive match is against Georgia next month.

Teams

Scotland: Gunn, Hickey, Hendry, Porteous (Gilmour 87'), McKenna, Robertson (Patterson 44'), McGregor (McLean 87'), McTominay, McGinn, Christie (Armstrong 79'), Dykes (Adams 79')

Unused Substitutes: Souttar, Cooper, Kelly, Brown, Ferguson, Taylor, Clark, 

Spain: Simon, Carvajal (Navas 67'), Le Normand, Laporte, Balde (Garcia 45'), Gavi, Rodri, Merino (Sancet 67'), Torres, Morata (Joselu 85'), Oyarzabal (Zaragoza 45')

Unused Substitutes: Arrizabalaga, Torres, Ruiz,  Raya, Garcia, Fati, Zubimendi