‘Poor decision’ – National team coach takes strong stance on Leeds United man’s penalty incident

Cooper earned his latest cap for Scotland after their qualification for next summer’s European Championships was confirmed earlier this week, and was named in Clarke’s line-up for the friendly fixture with World Cup finalists France. The French ran out 4-1 winners on the night at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, situated on the outskirts of the northern city Lille, despite Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Billy Gilmour opening the scoring in the 11th minute.

Scotland were only in front for five minutes, pegged back by Benjamin Pavard, who then put France in front with his second of the night shortly after the midway point of the first half. Les Bleus went in at the break with a two-goal cushion, leading Cooper’s Scotland by three goals to one after Kylian Mbappe converted a spot-kick minutes before the half-time whistle was blown.

Cooper had a hand, quite literally, in the award of France’s penalty as the Leeds captain was deemed to have illegally held Olivier Giroud’s shirt as the two grappled inside Scotland’s penalty area. Cooper was booked as a result, but only after the incident was referred to VAR, who directed match official Tobias Stieler to sanction a penalty for the hosts after reviewing the pitchside monitor.

"I have to say I don’t think the VAR should have got involved in the penalty decision. It was soft, and when the referee goes there, he has to be a little bit stronger and stick with his decision.

"Both players were at it, [it’s] normal in the box,” Clarke added, referencing the fistfuls of shirt held by Giroud and Cooper.

"It felt a little bit like a poor decision and that sort of takes the game away from us.”

Scotland have already booked their place at next summer’s Euros and are scheduled to play Georgia and Norway next month as they bid to finish top of their qualification group ahead of Spain. Thirty-two-year-old Cooper has earned 17 caps since his debut for the country in September 2019 and remains a fixture of Clarke’s squads despite not featuring from the start as frequently as he does for Leeds.