Croatia 3-1 Scotland: 'Scots work hard but learn lesson at tough school'

As the clock wound down and the minutes ran out on their Euros campaign, a brief and almost plaintive cry went up from the home , a last flurry of following for their beaten team. 'Oh Scotland, we love you' went the chant.

When it died away, all you could hear in its stead was the singing of the hardy Croatian souls away in a corner of Hampden. You didn't need to speak their language to get an angle on who they might have been serenading.

Luka Modric put the visitors 2-1 ahead with a goal of the most sumptuous quality, a delicate thing of beauty that wreaked such terrible havoc. They went on to rub salt in Scotland's wounds with a third. Unnecessary, that, but it's a tough school, this.

On the full-time whistle, both captains sank to the turf; Modric with his arms in the air and a liberated look on his face - this wondrous wee man will dance again in this tournament - and Andy Robertson hitting the deck for altogether different reasons. Exhaustion, frustration - all of that and more.

The cameras flashed to a little boy in tears. It's been fun, but it's over. Croatia were too good; too efficient in possession, too classy in the key moments, too ruthless in a way that Scotland simply were not. They had Modric. There aren't too many Modrics out there. Not one who wears Scotland's blue, that's for sure.

They also had Mateo Kovacic. Scotland did not possess a midfielder in his class either. In the middle of the park there was a gulf. It was the winning and losing of the game. Scotland worked hard, but hard work was not enough.