UEFA's head of referees backs no-penalty decision in Scotland Euro game

Referee Facundo Tello made the correct decision in denying Scotland a penalty in their final Euro 2024 group game against Hungary on Sunday, according to the European football federation's head of referees.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke was livid after Stuart Armstrong went down in the penalty area, but UEFA's managing director of refereeing Roberto Rosetti said that Armstrong had initiated "physical contact" with Hungary's Willi Orban.

Hungary went on to score deep in added time to win 1-0, while Scotland were eliminated.

"This was a very tough game with a couple of controversial incidents," Rosetti said during an hour-long media briefing about the tournament officiating through the group stage.

Rosetti would not confirm reports that Tello, from Argentina, had been dropped for the tournament's knockout rounds.

Rosetti said that VAR checks everything but that in the Armstrong incident the VAR team decided against an on-field review by the referee.

He pointed out that earlier in the game there was a potential handball in the box by Scotland's John McGinn, among other controversial incidents.

Rosetti also backed the decision by English referee Anthony Taylor to disallow Xavi Simons' goal for offside in the Netherland's 0-0 draw with France. He said that listening to a recording of the officials' decision, it was "very clear why they took the final decision."

Denzel Dumfries was standing in an offside position between goalkeeper Mike Maignan and the path of the ball when Simons scored. REUTERS