Steve Clarke lifts lid on furious Austin MacPhee touchline spat as Scotland boss offers 'really simple' defence

Steve Clarke has lifted the lid on his touchline row with Austin MacPhee - and insists the set-piece coach was in the "wrong place at the wrong time".

With Scotland trailing Germany in the second half, television cameras picked up the Dark Blues boss and MacPhee - who also works under Unai Emery at Aston Villa - in the midst of a heated exchange of words after a set piece came to nothing. In the wake of the 5-1 defeat, which is the heaviest loss in the opening game of a major tournament, much was made of the incident but Clarke has moved to reveal exactly what happened.

Speaking to the media ahead of Wednesday's second Group A fixture in Euro 2024 against Switzerland, he said: "It was really simple. Everyone on the touchline was frustrated. You get these moments all the time but you don't normally see it because we are tucked under a canopy or whatever.

"Austin just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as I turned round after we took a short free kick instead of a long one to put the ball into the box which is how we got the goal. It wasn't Austin's fault because the players have to make that decision on the pitch.

"We got counter-attacked and I thought 'we have lost we have lost enough goals Austin, we don't need to lose any more goals'. We just had a little discussion about it, that was all. Listen, he's got long, blonde hair but I am not going to give him a cuddle."