Scotland slump to humiliating 3-0 defeat in Kazakhstan

ASTANA, Kazakhstan: Alex McLeish slammed his Scotland flops after their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign got off to the worst possible start with a humiliating 3-0 defeat against Kazakhstan on Thursday.

The Kazakhs, ranked 117th in the world, struck twice inside 10 minutes through Yuriy Pertsukh and Yan Vorogovskiy to leave an under-strength Scotland shellshocked in the Group I clash in Nursultan.

McLeish's men secured the safety net of a playoff to qualify via the Nations League in November and already that looks like their only realistic route to a first major tournament in 22 years as Baktiyor Zainutdinov's terrific header made it 3-0 six minutes into the second half.

It was one of the most embarrassing results in Scotland's history and McLeish admitted his players had paid the price for their woeful start.

"It was horrible. They hit us with two blockbusters," McLeish said. "It was disappointing not to see a great reaction from that.

"At half-time we tried to change it a wee bit to see if we could unsettle Kazakhstan, but they were first to second balls and were very sharp on the night.

"It's a sore one. The facts are that we were beaten by a team ranked lower than us.

"On paper, we should win but I think you have to give Kazakhstan a bit of credit for the way they played." Scotland have a painful history of falling victim to shock results against the game's minnows, but this was arguably the worst of all.

In terms of the misery inflicted only a 1-0 defeat against Lithuania in a European Championship qualifier in 2003 and a 1-0 loss to Costa Rica in the 1990 World Cup really compare.

A draw against the Faroe Islands in 2002 was another low point, as were the 1978 World Cup draw with Iran and a 4-0 thrashing by Norway in 2009.

Scotland skipper Callum McGregor added: "We didn't do what we were asked to do, so the players have to put their hands up.”