Graeme Souness Seeks to Explain Subtle Callum McGregor Dig

Scotland couldn’t have got their European Championships off to a worse start on Friday evening as they were thumped 5-1 by Germany in Munich.

It was a horrendous performance from the national team who were embarrassed on the world stage.

Several players have come in for criticism since Friday, including Celtic captain Callum McGregor.

The skipper was isolated at the base of Scotland’s midfield. While he was arguably at fault for the Germans’ second of the night, the fact he was the sole holding midfielder dealing with consistent opposition pressure didn’t help.

Graeme Souness widely criticised McGregor for his performance last week, even appearing to get a subtle dig in as he referred to him as the ‘Celtic captain’ instead of his name.

Now, though, the former Rangers man has looked to cover his tracks. Souness has claimed that he genuinely forgot the 31-year-old’s name when lambasting his performance.

“I couldn’t remember his name”, he said (talkSport via Football Scotland).

“But I knew he was captain of Celtic. I was critical of him because if you remember the build up to the goal, he tried to nick it off [Ilkay] Gundogan and Gundogan turned him.

“He should have just been goal side trying to get a challenge in, but he tried to step in front and nick it. Further on in the same attack which led to the goal, he’s tried to nick it off Jamal Musiala again. So twice he’s tried to nick it instead of just being strong in the challenge and that would’ve prevented us conceding that goal.

“I forgot his name, I couldn’t remember his name but I knew he was a good little Football player and if it’s been taken as a slant or criticism, I didn’t mean it. I genuinely forgot his name.”

Whether Souness is speaking the truth remains up for debate. Amid the heat of the moment and after his country was hammered, one can see why he would try and get his dig in but then again, at 71 years old, he could simply have forgotten McGregor’s name.