In a night in which every tackle felt like a defining moment, sublime defending, clinical finishing and patience secured a historic win against the top seeded side in the group.
Some of Spain’s players incurred the wrath of the Scotland fans for theatrical falls, notably Joselu who twice went down in the box in dramatic fashion, and Pedro Porro, who rolled in agony after a clash for which Andy Robertson received a yellow card.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAs Scots celebrated a famous win, we look at how the Spanish media reacted.


Marca was quick to lambast the side their headline asking: “What’s the plan?” but they hailed the famous Hampden atmosphere.
"Thank goodness for the sacred places like Hampden Park. Just listening at Flower of Scotland in the temple of Scottish football is worthy of kings. How lucky are the Scots, with their bagpipes, their paper programs and their people who go to football to watch football?”
Their match report read: “A very bad start from Spain, could have been worse when the defence opened up like the sea to Moses for Christie to almost make it 2-0 with Scotland's aggressiveness eating Spain.”
Marca was also critical of the right back Pedro Porro, who attracted the ire of the Scottish fans after going down theatrically in the first half.
“We have already said that the goals with which Scotland scored came from mistakes by the right-back, first Pedro Porro and then Dani Carvajal. That is a position in which Spain has long had a very serious problem.
“Carvajal has never come close with Spain to what he has achieved at Madrid. It's evident. Seeing what these two players offered in Glasgow leaves the question of how is Nacho was not that the most appropriate answer to play”
‘Few expected him to do it again’
Spanish newspaper El Pais hailed the impact of two-goal hero Scott McTominay. They wrote: “Spain’s players were warned after McTominay scored two late goals in Scotland’s opening win over over Cyprus.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“But few expected him to do it again against a team that had not lost a European qualifying game since a 2-1 loss to Slovakia ahead of the 2016 tournament. Spain had not lost to Scotland since Maurice Johnston scored two and Kenny Dalglish added another in a 3-1 World Cup qualifier in November 1984.”
The report also questioned the changes to the lineup: “New Spain coach Luis de la Fuente made eight changes to the lineup to the team that started Euro 2024 qualifying with a 3-0 win over Norway. “
Nothing remains of Luis Enrique era
El Mundo criticised the style of the Spanish side writing: “Spain is worse than Scotland if they play like Scotland. Nothing remains of the Luis Enrique era. There are leaders who build and self-destruct at the same rate.”
Rodri criticised Scotland’s “rubbish” approach but the midfielder was quick to defend his side in the Spanish press telling Spanish TV channel Teledeporte. "We do not want to start with doubts because we are working, trying and we have done many things well. We all win and we all lose. Working hard, we are sure we will improve.”