UEFA ref chief says it was correct decision not to award Scotland penalty

UEFA managing director of refereeing Roberto Rosetti says that the decision not to award Scotland a penalty against Hungary was the correct one, saying that Stuart Armstrong initiated contact with Hungarian defender Willi Orban.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke was livid after the eventual 1-0 defeat that eliminated the national team from the European Championships, heavily criticising Argentinian referee Facundo Tello for his decision not to award his side what he felt was a clear penalty as Armstrong tumbled to the ground inside the area.

Rosetti says that the incident was checked by the VAR team, who deemed that an on-field review was unnecessary, and he also said that the Scots were fortunate not to concede a penalty of their own earlier in the second half for a pulling offence by John McGinn at the opposite end of the pitch.

“This was a very tough game with a couple of controversial incidents,” Rosetti said.

“There was one, for example, in minute 68 when there was a possible penalty because number seven of Scotland, John McGinn, was pulling the opponent’s shirt just before the incident [with Stuart Armstrong]. So, this was one of the possible penalties.

“Then there was of course in minute 79 in the penalty area of Hungary another incident. This was, let’s say, in favour of Hungary. The second one was in favour of Scotland when the attacker of Scotland - Armstrong - was in front of the Hungarian.

“If you watch it from behind the camera, there was a movement of the attacker towards the Hungarian. So, another controversial decision. Of course, the VAR checked it - they check everything. They checked the previous one and the second one and they decided it was just physical contact. This is what happened on the pitch.

“There was no intervention because in their opinion the attacker changed the direction towards the defender and in his opinion, it was just a physical contact to challenge the defender. It was checked and in the end, there was no intervention.

“In this match there were two controversial situations. Two. One was a clear pulling in the penalty area but you don’t mention that? And then there was the Armstrong situation which was checked and decided in this way. Thank you.”