(Reuters) – Scotland’s Scott McTominay lashed out at Georgia’s players, saying they fell to the ground theatrically and feigned injury during a heated 2-2 draw between the sides in a Euro 2024 qualifying Group A match on Thursday.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice for Georgia, while McTominay scored his seventh goal in seven qualifiers for Scotland before Lawrence Shankland struck in stoppage time to secure a draw.
In a testy end to the match, McTominay was fouled by Giorgi Kochorashvili. In the aftermath of the tackle, the Scotland midfielder pushed away Kochorashvili, who exaggerated the impact of the push and fell to the ground grabbing his face.
“Every game at this level is big and obviously they’ve got some really good players, but the way they were acting on the pitch I thought was a disgrace in terms of provoking the referee and it’s not the way it should go, but anyway that’s football,” McTominay told Viaplay Sports.
“They should do something about people pretending they’re injured when they’re not.
“It’s a difficult one to call, but rolling around crying like babies is not football and we just wanted to get on with the game and play and do our best to try and win, whereas on the other side they were provoking the referee a lot.”
Scotland are in second place in Group A, two points behind group leaders Spain before their final qualifier at home against Norway on Sunday, while Georgia, already guaranteed a playoff spot, face Spain away in their final game.
– TheStar
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)