A seething Graeme Souness has claimed that Luka Modric's stunning strike was 'avoidable' and lambasted Scotland's anti-football tactics following their Euro 2020 exit.
Scotland were dumped out at the group stage after Croatia swept them aside at Hampden Park, claiming a 3-1 victory to seal their place in the last-16.
Nikola Vlasic, Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic all scored in the win to break Scotland hearts as they fell at the first hurdle in what was their first major tournament in 23 years.
Graeme Souness slammed Scotland's performance and claimed Luka Modric's goal could've been avoided
The 35-year-old midfielder scored a stunning strike to give Croatia the lead in the second half
Modric was a standout performer on the night and capped off a brilliant display with a majestic strike in the second half.
However, ex-Scotland international Souness believes Steve Clarke's men should have dealt with the danger before Modric's precise effort put Croatia 2-1 up - and criticised them for allowing the 35-year-old to run the show in midfield.
‘It’s avoidable, that ball in was far too easy, [Stephen] O’Donnell has got to close down,' Souness said as he analysed the build-up play before Modric's goal.
'The keeper had no chance, it was a great finish. I always remember coaches screaming stop the cross, stop the cross in my day, but in modern football people seem happy to let the ball come in. That was an avoidable goal.
‘In the first game, England hunted Modric down and he wasn't too involved, but we never got near him, we just didn’t have the same energy as we did on Friday night.’
Despite Modric's brilliant goal, Souness said Scotland could've dealt with the danger earlier
The ITV pundit had been hopeful about Scotland's chances of qualifying before the match but admitted afterwards the performance was not up to scratch and described it as 'from another era'.
Souness was particularly critical of Scotland's tendency to go long rather than play out from midfield and said they've got to 'learn to play more football' because
