Spain's 'aggressive' Scotland Twitter jibe, 'dominating match statistics' claim and why it is wrong and funny

Scotland, as a country, are still basking in the glory of defeating Spain, one of the world's finest footballing nations at an electric, at times nervous, Hampden Park on Tuesday night.

While the Tartan Army savoured every single second of the win, which has the country top of their qualifying group for Euro 2024 with two wins from two, the inquest was well underway in Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia and across Spain as to what is wrong with the national team. Luis de la Fuente made eight changes to the side which defeated Norway. Barcelona teenage star Gavi was a late second-half substitute, while Alvaro Morata, he of 30 goals in 62 caps and multiple trophies across Spain, Italy and England was an unused sub.

Manchester City’s Rodri, captain on the night, complained in the press afterwards about Scotland and their game plan, describing it as “a bit rubbish”, accusing Scotland of provoking Spain and time wasting. Meanwhile, the Spanish national team's official Twitter account couldn’t resist a dig at their opponents following their 2-0 loss, labelling Scotland “aggressive” and noting “the @SEFutbol, despite dominating the match statistics, has not been able to score in its second qualifying match for the #EURO2024”.

Spain dominated the ball, as expected, and had many more passes, as expected. However, Scotland had nine shots to Spain's eight. Created one big chance to Spain’s zero as per Opta Stats. Scotland had a higher xG (expected goals) than their opponents, 0.88 to 0.79. Here’s the kicker, though, Spain committed more fouls, 15 to 13.