Rodri Scotland v Spain interview: what did Spain captain say after Scotland victory in Euro 2024 qualifiers

Two goals from Manchester United’s Scott McTominay have meant that for the first time since 2014, Spain have been beaten in a Euros qualifying fixture. Their last defeat was a 2-1 loss to Slovakia ahead of the 2016 tournament in France.

However, Steve Clarke’s side produced a magical display in Glasgow which sent Hampden Park roaring as they defeated the former World Champions 2-0 with McTominay providing both goals - the first after just seven minutes and the second just six minutes after the break. This is also Scotland’s first win over Spain since 1984 where they beat the Spaniard’s 3-1 in a World Cup qualifier.

Scotland now sit top of their qualifying group having won both their opening Euros qualifiers and will now prepare to face Norway and Georgia in June. Spain will take on Italy in the Nations League semi-final this June and will not play their next Euros qualifier until September.

Spain had eight changes in their match against Scotland and Manchester City’s Rodri captained the side. Rodri has since come out with several complaints against the Tartan Army and has gone so far as to call their football tactics “rubbish”.

Here is all you need to know about the reaction from Hampden Park...

What did Rodri say post-match?

Speaking to ViaPlay after the defeat, Spain’s captain said: “We did many good things to win. 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. Today we did many good things, but what’s important is the goal, and we didn’t score.”

David Garcia, who was making his Spain debut, also blamed the results on the length of the grass on the pitch at Hampden. Speaking to Marca, Garcia said: “We already saw that the grass was too long, and that cost us. We can’t make excuses for that, we have to look at ourselves and fix what we did wrong today.”

What else has been said?

McTominay’s United teammate Bruno Fernandes took to social media to praise the midfielder, sharing a clip of McTominay celebrating after the match with the caption, “What a player, McTerminator.”

Speaking after the match, the 26-year-old McTominay said: “We did really, really well. We know they’d have lots of the ball, and the manager said be clinical when we had the opportunities, and I thought we had enough opportunities tonight to really hurt them and score some goals.

“As a kid, I was an attacking midfielder - I like to get in the box. I’ve got to keep doing that, I know I can add more goals and assists to my game. Everyone was at it, diving around, making the game slow. It’s difficult, but sometimes that’s the way it’s got to be. When you’re winning you’ve got to do stuff like that. Look at this place - I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s incredible!

“The manager said this is our chance to create legacies as Scotland players and these are the nights in 20, 30 years that people remember. We can’t thank the fans enough.”