Kieran Tierney reckons Euro 2020 was just the beginning for Steve Clarke's young Scotland squad after they dropped out of the tournament last night. 

Croatia's 3-1 win at Hampden knocked the Scots out of the championships and left the country ruing a poor start against Czech Republic in their opening game.

For KT, though, it was all about the learning experience and he believes the players will take the knowledge they've gained from their first major tournament ever as a squad and come back better and stronger as a group.

"I think we’d have liked to get off to a better start and it was an uphill battle from that game," the Arsenal star said. "But we can hold our heads up high with the effort and the commitment.

"We played against three amazing teams who have been in tournament football a lot more than us and have a lot more experience of games like tonight’s. I think that showed. But (the scenes at the end) shows we were all in it together tonight, throughout the tournament. The support has been fantastic, we’re all very grateful for that.

"We did our best to make the fans proud. But it wasn’t to be.

"Is this the start of something rather than the end? That’s the aim. That’s what the manager said and that’s the message he wanted to get across – that it’s not the end for this group of boys and this squad.

"It’s just the beginning of us qualifying for tournaments more and more and giving the fans more to celebrate and cheer for and I’m sure the boys will give absolutely everything to make the fans and the manager proud in the future.

"We will learn, for sure. Tonight was a big learning curve for us all. Croatia had been there before, plenty of times, and with the quality they’ve got it showed tonight and we just have to learn from stuff like that because the way they played made it hard for us to get going."

Real Madrid superstar Luka Modric bossed the midfield for Croatia and Tierney was full of praise for the former Ballon d'Or winner after the match.

The playmaker scored a stunning first-time effort with the outside of his boot leaving the Scots with a mountain to climb to get back into the game.

"The Modric goal knocked the stuffing out of us because we knew we were going to have to score two," Tierney added. "And we knew the way the game was going it was going to be hard because they were unbelievable.

"Modric, especially, I think his performance was incredible. And as a team Croatia were magnificent.

"It was just tough to play against.

"Callum [McGregor’s] goal gave us every chance. It was a tough first half but it was the perfect time to score and give us more confidence going into the second half. But, it never turned out to be that special night.

"We knew once it was 2-1 it was going to be tough.

"But we never gave up, that’s for sure. We never gave up trying. Our effort was always there, no matter the score-line, no matter the minute."