Ally McCoist's brilliant 29-word response to Rodri after Spanish captain's Scotland 'rubbish' claims

Ally McCoist poked fun at Rodri and the “irony” of the Spanish captain, who branded Scotland “a bit rubbish”, complaining about the physical side of the game.

The 6ft3in Manchester City midfielder was strong in his assessment of Steve Clarke’s men after they recorded a famous 2-0 win over the Spaniards at Hampden Park on Tuesday night with both goals coming from Scott McTominay. Rodri said: “It's the way they play. In the end, for me, it's a bit rubbish because they are always wasting time. They, how do you say, provoke you. They always fall and for me this is not football. For the speed of the sport you have to move on, but the referee has to take part of this and he'll say nothing”. Adding that Spain “will learn for the next time." It was a theme taken on by the Spanish national team on social media, describing Scotland as “aggressive”.

The opinion from Rodri was dismissed in typically amusing fashion from Rangers and Scotland legend McCoist who waxed lyrical about the national team’s performance, individuals and Hampden Park.

“I thought we were just a wee bit too physical for Rodri,” he said on talkSPORT. “We were rubbish, is that the word he used? Bless his wee Spanish heart. He's a good player but he can cope with the physical side of the game no bother so the irony of him talking about the physicality of Scotland is not lost on me. Man alive, Hampden was jumping. That was nothing short of fantastic! It really was. And do you know something? I can say it now, I would've said it earlier, but we weren't really in any danger. They're putting crosses into the box and the lads were absolutely tremendous, whether it was [Grant] Hanley, [Ryan] Porteous, [Liam] Cooper. Kieran Tierney was superb, Aaron Hickey, McTominay with two goals. Have I named them all yet?!”

Scotland don’t play Spain again until October. Between now and then there are three more massive qualifying matches, starting with a June double header, away to Norway and home to Georgia before a trip to Cyprus in September.