'Hardest thing I've had to go through' - Scotland star bans himself from social media after Euros nightmare

Scotland defender Ryan Porteous has backed himself to recover from his Euros nightmare despite admitting that his disastrous major finals debut left him in a dark place.

The Watford centre-back was sent off in the opening match for a wild tackle on Germany's Ilkay Gundogan as his desperate attempts to prevent the loss of a third goal before half-time only resulted in the concession of a penalty and Scotland being reduced to 10 men.

Porteous was handed a two-match ban by Uefa and played no further part in the tournament as the 5-1 defeat to the hosts was followed by a 1-1 draw with Switzerland and a 1-0 defeat to Hungary which saw Scotland fail to qualify for the knock-out stages.

Watford's Ryan Porteous addresses the Hibs crowd on his return to Easter Road during Wednesday's pre-season friendly. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Porteous has performed admirably in a Scotland jersey since making an outstanding debut in a goalless draw with Ukraine in 2022 and played a major role in a successful qualifying campaign, but his 12th cap is one that he will not look back on fondly.

"It was really tough - probably the hardest thing that I've had to go through personally,” the 25-year-old from Dalkeith told Sky Sports. “When we were away at the Euros you couldn't really think of yourself that much because you've still got a big job to do for the team in and around the place. You can't be sulking and feeling sorry for yourself, you've got to help the boys. I tried to do that the best I could, but when you leave the camp it hits you.

"I've got a lot of good people around me who looked after me so I feel like I'm in a lot better place now but it was really tough.

"There's a lot of disappointment. It's one of those things. It's hard to excuse anything. It's just gutting for myself, for everybody that was there supporting me and for the fans as well. It was another experience that I've got to learn from."

The tackle on Ilkay Gundogan which earned Ryan Porteous a red card in Scotland's 5-1 defeat to Germany at Euro 2024. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The former Hibs defender returned to his Easter Road roots on Wednesday night for a pre-season friendly arranged as part of the transfer that took him to Watford 18 months ago and helped guide the English Championship side to a 3-2 victory.

"I wanted to come right back to Watford straight away and get back to work," Porteous added. "You're not going to feel better by sulking and feeling sorry for yourself. You're going to get better by reacting. I think I've shown that I can bounce back from adverstiy a lot before and I'm backing myself to do that again."

Scotland head coach Clarke stood by his defender amid some scathing online criticism but Porteous admitted that he has banned himself from social media having become accustomed to online abuse throughout his career.

"I've trained myself quite well to deal with that a long time ago," he explained. "It's no secret that I've had that kind of stuff before and I've trained myself to not look at that. That's probably been the biggest asset to me. If I was to give any advice to young players coming through it would be don't look at your phone, don't look at social media and things like that. It can only benefit you."

Porteous will look to put his Euros disappointment behind him when the Nations League A campaign gets underway with matches against Poland at Hampden and away to Portugual on September 5 and 8.

"We've set a really high standard over the course of the last three or four years and we've got to live up to that. We can't be a squad that just settles for getting to major tournaments, although it's fantastic for the nation, showing how much it meant to everyone to be there. But it's one of those things it's so disappointing not to reach that next level. But as a group we've got to bounce back and go again."