Andy Robertson apologises to Scotland fans after defeat to Ukraine ends World Cup hopes

Scotland captain Andy Robertson apologised to the Tartan Army after the nation's World Cup dreams were shattered by Ukraine at Hampden Park.

Goals from Andriy Yarmalenko and Roman Yaremchuk gave the visitors a 2-0 half-time lead and although Callum McGregor pulled one back 11 minutes from time, a below-par Scotland were unable to find the equaliser before a late breakaway Artem Dovbyk sealed the result.

Ukraine will now progress to the World Cup play-off final against Wales in Cardiff on Sunday, leaving Steve Clarke's side to pick themselves up for next week's Nations League fixtures against Armenia, home and away, either side of a trip to Dublin to face Republic of Ireland.

"It's hugely disappointing," admitted Liverpool left back Robertson, speaking to Sky Sports shortly after full-time.

Scotland's Andy Robertson shows his dejection at full-time after the 3-1 defeat to Ukraine at Hampden. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

"We've waited a long time for this game. Our performances beforehand have been really good and to be honest we didn't really show up.

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"That's the World Cup gone for another four years and that's really hard for us because we all have dreams of playing in that big tournament and we didn't put in a performance that justified it tonight.

"We know there will be scrutiny coming our way and we know we'll be under fire. That's the way of it. But in [the dressing room] we have to stick together as a group. We've made massive strides over the past few years and there will come a time where we need to take perspective on that but tonight is not that night.

"All we can say is sorry to the fans in here and back home for disappointing them. We'll dust ourselves down and we need to try and go again."

It was an emotional night at Hampden for Ukraine and their fans in what was the nation's first competitive fixture since the onset of the Russian invasion in February.

Ukraine talisman Oleksandr Zinchenko, the Manchester City midfielder, said: "Everyone knows the situation right now in Ukraine and every single game for us is like a final game.

"We have a dream to be at the World Cup. We are one more game and we need to win it otherwise this game is not going to mean anything.

"It's going to be a massive game for us [against Wales]. We need to give the best performance of our lives."

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