EURO 2024: Why was Ryan Porteous given a straight red card in Germany vs Scotland?

Scotland was reduced to 10 men when Ryan Porteous was given a red card at the brink of half-time, against Germany, in their EURO 2024 opener, on Friday.

Scotland’s Ryan Porteous in action with Germany’s Florian Wirtz in the Euro 2024 opener. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Scotland was reduced to 10 men when Ryan Porteous was given a red card at the brink of half-time, against Germany, in their EURO 2024 opener, at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday.

In the 45th minute, Ilkay Gundogan was fouled by Porteous as the German midfielder screamed in pain, appealing for a penalty. Though the referee, Clement Turpin, did not point to the spot initially, following a look on the monitor and consulting the video-assistant-referee (VAR), he gave Germany a penalty and marching orders to the Scot defender.

He thus became the first player to be sent off on his Euro debut since Aleksandar Dragovic for Austria versus Hungary in 2016, and the first Scotland player to receive a red card in a major tournament (World Cup/EUROs) since Craig Burley vs Morocco in FIFA World Cup 1998.

Why was Ryan Porteous shown a red card?

Porteous was shown a direct red card because he violated Law 12 of the Laws of the Game in football. According to the rules in football, a straight red can be given for the following instances:

• Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity with a handball
• Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity with a foul
• Serious foul play
• Violent conduct
• Using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or action(s)
• Receiving a second yellow card (caution) in the same match

In the case of Porteous, the second reason holds perfectly well as his challenge was a reckless one (read foul), which denied a clear goalscoring opportunity to the Barcelona midfielder.

Porteous, left, fouls Gundogan to give away the penalty to Germany. | Photo Credit: AP

Both his boots were on the up, against the right leg of Gundogan, which only made the referee’s case stronger to show him a straight red instead of a yellow card.