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Scotland's Clarke wants missed Hungary penalty explained

Steve Clarke suggested UEFA should only use European referees in its competitions after Scotland were denied a penalty in a 1-0 defeat to Hungary which knocked them out of Euro 2024.

Substitute Kevin Csoboth's 100th-minute winner in Stuttgart meant Scotland finished bottom of Group A and extends their wait to reach the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time in their history.

But Clarke focused on Argentinian referee Facundo Tello's decision not to award a 79th-minute for a challenge by Willi Orbán on substitute Stuart Armstrong.

"[It was] 100 per cent [a] penalty," Clarke said. "Somebody somewhere has to explain to me why that's not a penalty. It was, 100 percent. It is a one goal game, we get the penalty it would be a different night. I've got other words, but I'm not going to use them."

Pushed on whether Tello's nationality was a relevant factor, Clarke continued: "European competition, maybe it would be better to have a European referee. But we had European VAR and maybe the referee didn't see the challenge clearly on the pitch.

"So what's the purpose of VAR if they are not going to come in on something like that? It was a penalty."

Hungary boss Marco Rossi played down the incident, saying his team had been on the wrong end of missed calls at the tournament as well.

Rossi said: "In the previous match [against Germany], I say there was a clear foul on Willi Orban done by [Ilkay] Gundogan and nobody talked about it?

"Why do you now have to talk about this episode? I didn't see it well from the bench but if they didn't give the penalty, probably the VAR room they have seen it was not a penalty. Also, because it is the European Championships, many pushes from the back are allowed."