Scotland’s Ryan Porteous confident of bouncing back from Euro 2024 nightmare

Scotland defender Ryan Porteous has faith he can bounce back from the hardest period of his career following his disastrous Euro 2024 experience.

The Watford centre-back’s tournament only lasted 45 minutes, with his reckless challenge on Ilkay Gundogan resulting in a red card, a two-match ban and a penalty that saw Germany go 3-0 ahead in the opening match.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Porteous said: “It was obviously really tough, probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through personally.

“When we were away at the Euros, you couldn’t really think of yourself that much because you still have a pretty big job to do for the team in and around the place.

“You can’t be sulking, you can’t be feeling sorry for yourself, you have got to help the boys and I tried to do that the best I could. But obviously when you leave the camp it hits you. But I’ve got a lot of good people around me and they looked after me well.

“I feel like I am in a lot better place now, but it was really tough.”

The former Hibernian player was back at Easter Road on Wednesday night as Watford beat Hibs 3-2 in a friendly, with Porteous playing for more than an hour.

When asked how he looked back on the incident in Munich, the 25-year-old said: “It’s hard to excuse anything, but at the same time it’s just gutting. It was gutting for myself, for everyone that was there supporting me and the fans as well.

“It’s another experience I have got to learn from.

“I wanted to come straight back to Watford right away and get back to work, because you are not going to feel better by sulking and feeling sorry for yourself, you are going to get better by reacting.

“I think I have shown I can bounce back from adversity a lot before and I am backing myself to do the same again.”

Porteous received four red cards during his time with Hibs and was once on the end of major criticism from then Rangers manager Steven Gerrard for a tackle on Joe Aribo.

So comments on his style of play are nothing new to him and he has learnt to block out criticism of his approach.

“I have trained myself quite well to deal with that a long time ago,” he said. “I have trained myself not to look at that.

“That’s probably been the biggest asset to myself. If I was to give advice to young players coming through, (it would be) not to look at your phone, not to look at social media. It can only benefit you.”