There are Greek tragedies, and then there is this. Scotland were torn apart at Hampden by a rampant Greek side under coach Ivan Jovanovic that could scarcely have believed they could come to Glasgow and run amok.
Greece scored three and might easily have had six. It was as painful as that for Scotland. And such was the nature of this wounding, even pathetic defeat, there was talk last night about whether such a setback should actually cost any Scotland coach his jotters.
This won’t apply to Steve Clarke, a man who has proved himself an impressive Scotland boss. But this was certainly humiliating. Moreover, on the night, Clarke looked helpless to turn this game around, or avert Scotland tumbling out of League A of the Nations League.
None of us saw this coming: no fan, no sports pundit, no-one. So much for Scotland’s buoyancy coming off the first-leg 1-0 win on Thursday evening in Greece. Here at Hampden there was only one team going for the jugular, and it was the visitors, repeatedly running rampant at their hosts.
The Greeks were 2-0 up at half-time and, what was worse, 3-0 up within 45 seconds of the second half getting underway. A few inches above Craig Gordon’s bar were all that separated the visitors from going 4-0 up just past the hour. Clarke and Scotland were traumatised.
At no stage in this game did Scotland actually look like being able to wrest control from their opponents. In the main, Greece’s authority was unruffled. The Greek goalkeeper, Kostas Tzolakis, had very little to do, and certainly made no heart-stopping save of note, save for a right-handed stop right at the death. This goalkeeper’s quiet night seemed very damning for Scotland.
The Scotland head coach could do nothing to change the story of this match. He simply stood, and watched, and hoped. Clarke has had many good nights with Scotland, but this was an utterly deplorable one.
Before this mayhem, Scotland chose to remind itself just how rich we once were as a football nation. The pre-match tribute to Denis Law - The Lawman - was utterly fitting: no solemnity here but, on the contrary, a jangling applause which rang round Hampden before the action got under way.
This stadium housed enough people in their 60s and 70s to recall the sheer genius of the goal-grabber, Europe’s finest – as the fans’ banner rightly said – in 1964. Sir Alex Ferguson held up the famous no.10 shirt of Law before kick-off and the arena rose in acclaim. As it painfully transpired, we could have done with Law in his prime here.
This game had anxiety in store for the Scots. It became obvious after a breezy opening ten-minute spell that Greece were right up for this, and had menace aplenty. The visitors were 2-0 up and a weary, struggling Scotland were on the receiving end from the crowd. This game became an absolute eyeful.
Greece’s opener stunned Hampden after 20 minutes and left Scotland wondering how such a gaping hole could appear in the middle of their defence. Giorgos Vagiannidis’s surge down the right ended in his cut-back into the Scottish box being met by Giannis Konstantelias, who rifled the ball past a helpless Gordon. So much for Scotland’s early brightness. Hampden was now in a state of alarm.
Scotland had created three early surges and chances – all of them via the feet of Scott McTominay – but Greece were suddenly alive in this match and Scotland began to look lost. Even worse, the Greeks began spearing into the Scottish penalty area, on two further occasions forcing a harassed Scotland to thwart them.
Hampden wasn’t having this. The national stadium began to growl with disapproval. Clarke prowled his touchline, wondering what to do. This was not the expected script after Thursday’s victory in Athens.
Four minutes before the break Greece grabbed their second, and once again this Scottish defence was left in tatters. This time Konstantinos Karetsas took the pass from Konstantelias and beautifully curled the ball firmly into the net. It was, in truth, a gorgeous finish and the Greek fans inside this stadium were beside themselves.
This was the moment when Clarke – or any coach – had to rethink his strategy and change his on-field personnel. There was no point in waiting a further 15 or 20 minutes – the first half had given ample evidence that Scotland’s plan was not working. Immediate change was required.
Yet Clarke decided to stay with the 11 men who had fallen behind, and within 40 seconds Scotland were three down, Christos Tzolis taking Konstantelias’s clever pass to sweep the ball past Gordon.
Hampden was utterly stunned: the home crowd simply did not know what to make of this, as the Greeks continued to dominate and take this game to Scotland. A few moments later Karetsas was bursting through again, this time curling the ball just over Gordon’s bar
Clarke could wait no longer. He had paused for nine minutes of the second half before making a trio of changes – and it couldn’t have been any less – in bringing on Kieran Tierney, Lewis Ferguson and George Hirst. Kenny McLean, Billy Gilmour and Che Adams were the three to go, though Hampden showed a specific disapproval for Tierney’s arrival, or more likely, over Gilmour’s withdrawal.
Tierney actually took up the position of left-wing and began to see a lot of the ball, though you could see this player was not long back from injury. Scotland, it has to be said, continued to labour to piece any threatening move together.
On 62 minutes, nine minutes after Scotland’s three changes, Hampden was quiet, except for the excited thrum and chanting of the scarcely-believing Greek fans. And then both Vangelis Pavlidis and then Konstantelias had chances each to make it 4-0.
Two more Scottish subs arrived: Tommy Conway and James Wilson, as Clarke threw strikers onto the pitch. It made hardly any difference. Greece easily saw this match out, threatened to make it 4-0 in the closing minutes, and euphorically embraced each other at the end.
Hampden threw its derision in the direction of the Scotland players and their head coach. This defeat – and the gutless manner of it - will take some explaining.
