Steve Clarke fumes at Scotland penalty snub as raging boss demands VAR answers after Euro 2024 heartache

Scotland were denied a spot kick when substitute Stuart Armstrong was pulled down in the box but the referee waved away appeals and VAR didn't intervene.

Raging Steve Clarke has demanded an explanation as to why Scotland were denied a penalty during their heartbreaking defeat to Hungary.

A 100th minute goal from Kevin Csoboth broke Tartan Army hearts in Stuttgart as yet again, the Scots were sent home from the Euro 2024 party at the culmination of the group stage as the Hungarians wait to see if their three point haul will be enough for them to sneak through from Group A as one of the best third placed sides.

After Scotland huffed and puffed for the majority of the game without looking like scoring, they were brighter after the introduction of Stuart Armstrong and Lawrence Shankland. The abundance of injury time was as a result of a serious injury to Hungary striker Barnabas Varga, who had to be stretchered off following a sickening collision with Angus Gunn that left captain Dominik Szoboszlai in tears. But it looked like the Scots should have had the chance to score from the spot when Willi Orban appeared to clatter through the back of Armstrong in the box.

But Argentinian ref Facundo Tello waved play on, and his VAR colleagues saw nothing to make them overturn his on-field call. That left Clarke dumbfounded as he dismissed the late winner as "irrelevant" with his side chasing the game deep into time added on.

"The goal comes as a consequence of us trying to win the game," Clarke told BBC Sport. "The goal is almost irrelevant. The moment for me was the penalty. It was 100% a penalty. Someone has to explain to me why it wasn't a penalty because otherwise I'm thinking there's something wrong. I don't understand how VAR can look at that and say it's not a penalty.

"It was always a one-goal game. We didn't manage to get the goal, we opened up at the end to try and get it. The overriding feeling is to be sad for everybody, for the supporters and the country and the players are just as sad as everyone else."