Andy Robertson is facing fresh criticism after his tough season continued with a poor individual performance in Scotland’s 3-0 home defeat by Greece on Sunday.
Scotland went into the game at Hampden Park with a 1-0 aggregate lead in the relegation playoff courtesy of Scott McTominay’s penalty in Piraeus last week, but Steve Clarke’s men were thoroughly outplayed in the second leg, and the defeat means that they will play in the second tier of the Nations League during the 2026-27 season.
Greece’s first and second goals both came down Liverpool defender Robertson‘s side of the pitch, as he failed to get close enough to stop Georgios Vagiannidis’ cross for Giannis Konstantelias’ opener, before he was dragged out of position for 17-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas’ curled finish. Reds defender Kostas Tsimikas, who was involved in a heated exchange with teammate Robertson during last week’s first leg, was an unused substitute for the visiting team.
The Herald handed Robertson a 4 in its player ratings, writing: “Pre-match, Greece wonderkid Karetsas suggested he could trouble Robertson, unfortunately for Scotland, the 17-year-old was right. Robertson was locked into a defensive role and unable to race forward and cause problems in the opposite direction. Raced to shut down free man Konstantelias but left Karetsas free to slam home second for Greece.”
The Edinburgh Evening News and The Scotsman both gave Robertson fives out of 10, with the former saying: “Drilled an early effort wide after McTominay’s shot was saved. Unable to influence much going forward.”
The latter wrote: “Offered an outlet on the left when Scotland went forward, but was poor in stopping the cross that led to the opening goal and left Karetsas for the all-important second.”
The Guardian described Robertson as “one of umpteen Scotland players who endured an awful evening”. It said: “Greece forged ahead on aggregate three minutes before the break. Karetsas endorsed his star quality with a curling finish after Konstantelias flicked the ball into his path. Andy Robertson had been drawn towards the ball in leaving Karetsas totally unmarked.”
Unsurprisingly, Robertson also came in for stick on social media. One X user wrote: “Like, I won’t deny it, Greece are a good team. But we haven’t half made life easy for them. And I’m sorry, Robertson’s decline is reaching Fabinho levels now.” Another said: “What Greece are doing to Robertson and co should not be televised.”
