Graeme Souness has responded to pushbacks of his live on-air criticism of Celtic captain Callum McGregor.
The Rangers idol worked as a pundit for ITV Sport on Friday night as Scotland were thumped 5-1 in the opening game of Euro 2024.
McGregor was part of the side selected by Steve Clarke to start the match at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Speaking post-match, referring to McGregor when delivering his analysis of Germany's first two goals, Souness appeared to pin a significant portion of the blame on the 31-year-old.
Instead of calling him by his name, the pundit cited him as the 'Celtic captain', as he analysed the goal.
He said: "Gundogan, again, great turn, he slips Havertz in, back to Musiala, wrong foots the Celtic captain yet again, that's two in the same move.
"He tries to nick it here, Callum McGregor, and he gets back in, he tries to nick it again – just stay goalside and stop the effort on your goal."
This irked Hoops fans on social media, and one punter called into talkSPORT this morning to unleash his frustration over Souness' comments.
The former Rangers, Liverpool and Scotland defender insists he simply forgot McGregor's name in that moment.
"I can answer that, I couldn't remember his name," the 71-year-old said. "But I knew he was captain of Celtic. I was critical of him because if you remember the build up to the goal, he tried to nick it off [Ilkay] Gundogan and Gundogan turned him.
"He should have just been goal side trying to get a challenge in, but he tried to step in front and nick it. Further on in the same attack which led to the goal, he's tried to nick it off Jamal Musiala again. So twice he's tried to nick it instead of just being strong in the challenge and that would've prevented us conceding that goal.
"I have to say, that question can only arise in the west of Scotland. I forgot his name, I couldn't remember his name but I knew he was a good little football player and if it's been taken as a slant or criticism, I didn't mean it. I genuinely forgot his name."
