Scotland captain Andy Robertson rues missed chances in ‘tough lesson’ against the Czech Republic as return to tournament football after two-decade absence ends in defeat
Scotland captain Andy Robertson was left to rue missed chances after his side fell to an opening 2-0 defeat at Euro 2020, despite his own personal stand-out performance.
Robertson created five chances from left-back at Hampden Park, more than any other player, but the Scots were unable to convert and ultimately came undone courtesy of a Patrick Schick brace.
The big striker found the back of the net with a well-placed header, before hammering the ball home from just inside the opposition half after catching goalkeeper David Marshall off his line.
Andy Robertson was unable to lead Scotland to the winning Euro 2020 start the nation craved
Following the full-time whistle, a dejected Robertson admitted a ‘tough lesson’ had been learned as Scotland returned to tournament football after a 23-year absence.
‘It’s hard to put your finger on it just now. The whole country wanted to get off to a good start. We were confident and excited going into the game. I think it comes down to not taking our chances,’ Robertson said.
‘When you look back at the game, you can’t say we’ve not created. We’ve had some really, really good chances that on another day we should have done better with. If you do better on that, then it’s a different game. For our first game in a really long time, it’s a tough lesson for us.
‘At the highest level, and the best tournaments in the world, you have to take your chances when they came to us. The Czech Republic did that. We didn’t, and unfortunately that’s why we’re on the wrong end of the result.
In his post-match interview Robertson fronted up to the several chances Scotland passed up
‘For the first one, and the height of us, we really shouldn’t concede from second balls or set pieces. We were really good at clearing the set piece, but you’ve still then got to pick up your man and defend it. To be fair to the boy, it is a good header. We’ve just got to be a wee bit stronger and better with our line.
‘We started the second half really well, hit the bar, couple of really good chances, and I think it (second goal) was off one of our shots. Marshy has to be in that position, any balls in behind and Marshy’s in a good position.
‘It’s a one in a million shot unfortunately. We can’t lie, it knocked the stuffing out of us at that point. After that, we still created a couple of chances, if you put it down then it’s 2-1 and the crowd start to lift and it’s a different game. We just didn’t manage it.’
Midfielder John McGinn added: ‘We got beat so we’re disappointed. I thought we played pretty well. First half, we weren’t threatening them too much. We didn’t put anything behind them.
Patrick Schick opened the scoring for Czech Republic with a header just before half-time
The striker doubled his side’s lead with a 50-yard lob over Scotland keeper David Marshall
‘But the first one’s a poor one to lose, brilliant header. From our point of view, we’re extremely disappointed with it. You don’t want to lose a goal from a set play or a second phase. The second one’s a brilliant strike, but again we can do better.
‘The two nil scoreline probably flatters them a wee bit. But they found the quality at the right moments. We need to find that on Friday. We can either sulk about it or go into Friday with the same attitude, and hopefully get a better result.
‘We’re here at a major tournament. You need to show your quality. If we want to compete at this level, we need to take those chances. Ultimately today we were punished for that. I don’t think it’s a reality check.
‘Overall, we played pretty well. There are things we can improve on, but it’s the first game of the tournament. We’ve got two games to fix what we need to fix, and it’s important we don’t sulk too much.’