Kieran Tierney ruled out of Scotland's Euro 2024 match against ...
Kieran Tierney has been ruled out of Scotland’s decisive final European Championship group match against Hungary through injury.
The 27-year-old defender was forced off in the 61st minute of Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw against Switzerland and replaced by Scott McKenna.
That result keeps Scotland’s hopes of progressing through to the round-of-16 stage of the competition alive but they will almost certainly need to defeat Hungary in their concluding group game on Sunday (June 23).
Tierney, who spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Real Sociedad from Arsenal, missed more than three months in total last season with four different leg muscular injuries including calf, groin and hamstring layoffs.
Tierney was stretchered off against Switzerland and will miss the tie against Hungary (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“Kieran is definitely out of the next game (against Hungary), it looks like a bad one,” Scotland head coach Steve Clarke told BBC Sport after the match.
“Obviously we have to assess it but Kieran is out. You have to feel for him, he got into great shape and has done ever so well for us. But someone else will have to come in.”
Tierney started both of Scotland’s opening matches of the tournament, including Friday night’s 5-1 defeat to Germany.
He is the second Scotland defender who will miss the game with Ryan Porteous also suspended, having been sent-off in the opening night loss to the hosts.
Scotland sit third in Group A with one point from their opening two matches, with Hungary at the foot of the table on zero points and Switzerland second with four points while Germany have secured their progress — winning both of their opening games to secure six points.
The top two teams in each group advance through to the round-of-16 stage, while four of the best six third-placed sides will also progress — a minimum of three points is likely to be enough to progress.
GO DEEPER
The Briefing: Scotland 1 Switzerland - Shaqiri's stunner, own goal confusion, Tierney's agony
(Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
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Colin Millar is a Staff Writer for The Athletic. Prior to joining The Athletic, Colin was European Football writer at Mirror Football. From Belfast, he is the author of The Frying Pan of Spain: Sevilla vs Real Betis, Spain’s Hottest Football Rivalry, and he can be found on Twitter/X: @Millar_Colin Follow Colin on Twitter @Millar_Colin
