Gallas disparages Scots

Gallas: Scotland swipe

If we were to play Scotland for a third time, we would not lose

William Gallas
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France international William Gallas has taken a swipe at Scotland, insisting they were architects of their own downfall.

Alex McLeish's Scotland stumbled at home to Italy on Saturday, as a last-minute strike from Christian Panucci ended the Scots' dreams of a place at Euro 2008.

Italy's victory ensured that they and France will be heading to next summer's finals, and Arsenal's Gallas has hit out at the Scottish.

McLeish's men secured a famous double over France, a feat Gallas believes they barely deserved.

The 30-year-old defender also revealed that his team-mates would have been 'furious' had Scotland pipped them to qualification.

Blame

"Scotland have only themselves to blame for their elimination," he is quoted as saying in the Daily Record.

"They lost in Georgia before going down at home to Italy. As for ourselves, we would have been furious had we failed to qualify for the finals.

"We would have looked for the reasons in the two matches we played against Scotland if we hadn't gone to Euro 2008.

"I think the French dislike playing against over-defensive opponents, such as the Scots.

"They only created three chances in their two games against us - and converted two of them. We could have avoided one of our two defeats.

Trap

"I'm thinking especially about the more recent one at the Parc des Princes. The first one was not brilliant but as for the second - don't get me started.

"We should not be losing matches at home, and in the end if we can't win them we should at least avoid defeat.

"It is fair to say we fell over the same trap twice over. We made the same mistakes against the same team that posed the same problems.

"If we were to play Scotland for a third time, we would not lose."