From a distance, it was difficult not to look at the fall-out from Ryan Porteous’ rash challenge on Ilkay Gundogan in the opening match of Euro 2024 and draw sweeping conclusions.

Coming on the cusp of half-time in the Allianz Arena, the defender’s two-footed lunge on the German midfielder earned him a straight red card with a two-game suspension soon following.

The moment of madness led to Kai Havertz giving the host nation a three-goal lead from the penalty spot at the interval. By time-up, Steve Clarke’s depleted side had lost 5-1. The self-belief which they’d brought into the tournament was fast evaporating, too.

While no one doubted the scale of the task Scotland faced a ball was kicked that evening, Porteous’ actions made the mission impossible. As a consequence, the former Hibernian defender found forgiveness hard to come by.

Those irate Scotland supporters who demanded that he suffered for his folly were granted their wish.

A player who’d featured in seven of the eight qualifiers disappeared from view thereafter, briefly emerging from international exile as a sub against Greece in March of last year, yet posted missing again throughout the World Cup qualifiers and from the tournament itself.

It seemed only logical to deduce that Clarke had also shared the anger of the Tartan Army and that the player’s status as a pariah was down to his simmering fury at the humiliation that woeful tackle caused.

Porteous always believed the matter wasn’t quite as clear cut as most imagine it to be.

‘I think people maybe read too much into that,’ said the 27-year-old.

‘In the conversations I had with Steve after the Euros and in the next qualifying campaign, the red card against Germany never came up.

‘We had loads of conversations, both when I was in and out of the squad.

‘Those are the things that people obviously don’t see.

‘They maybe think Steve Clarke is the type of person who wouldn’t phone you or text you. But he did. We spoke loads to be honest. He was really honest with me.

‘I text him when he left the role and he messaged back eager to see me get back in the squad.

‘Everyone knows Steve is a manager who, if he picks a squad and they do well for them and they get to a tournament, he’s loyal.

‘In terms of the conversations we had during those latter stages of qualification, he just told me to keep doing what I was doing.

‘He was honest and told me I would probably need some of those lads to drop off in form if I was going to make it. You have to respect that.

‘I went to a tournament in the Euros in 2024 and you had someone like John Souttar who missed out. So, I know what it feels like on both sides.’

Porteous, to his credit, doesn’t appear to be bitter about how matters unfolded post-Germany.

Regardless of the true importance of the red card in his status changing from mainstay to that of an outcast, he accepts that fairness and the game do not always walk hand-in-hand.

‘That happens in football, it’s just one of those things,’ he shrugged.

‘I’ve had a career where I’m up and down, I’m left and right, you just need to bounce back from it.

‘It was a fantastic experience for me to be part of that run we went on. It helped me grow massively. I don’t look at it as being unfair.’

By the time he’d moved from Watford to Los Angeles to sign for LAFC last August, he’d already reconciled himself with the fact that his Scotland career was in cold storage. The consolation was that this afforded him a different perspective on the November night when history was made.

‘It’s maybe tough when the squads were getting announced and then a couple of days after that,’ he reflected.

‘But then as soon as you’re watching the games, you just become a fan straight away again and want the team to do well.

‘I probably hadn’t experienced that for a while. It was actually good for me watching the World Cup qualifiers - because I was able to sit and watch them straight after training because of the time difference.

‘When Kenny McLean scored from the halfway line (against Denmark) I had half the team in LA shouting and screaming for Scotland! It was brilliant.’

While he’d clearly have preferred to still have been at the heart of things, his new life on the other side of the Atlantic allowed him to sample what it all meant to an invading army in the summer.

‘I had a few days off at one point and I went out to Boston,’ he explained.

‘I didn’t manage to go to the games, but I saw my friends and family who were over and we went to the baseball as well.

‘Being in that fan environment, it just gives you that extra little bit of hunger to get back.’

The profile of the MLS always offered him that possibility. Porteous’s club counts Gareth Bale and Olivier Giroud among its former players. Son Heung-min is the current star in Tinseltown. The Scot played against - and defeated - Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in February. In such moments, one can feel a long way from Midlothian.

‘It’s quite mental,’ he smiled.

‘I think I could be the first guy ever to go from Dalkeith to LA! It’s very hot. They are actually choking for a bit of rain just now.

‘I used to blame the East Mains wind for losing my hair, but it’s still falling out over in LA even without the wind.

‘(John) McGinn has already peppered me after seeing a couple of my interviews over there.

‘I’ve had to change my accent so that people can understand me over there.

‘For the first couple of months, everyone was asking me to repeat myself. But it’s an incredible place and I’m enjoying every second.’

LAFC finished sixth in the Western Conference this year, good enough to book a slot in the forthcoming play-offs.

Porteous’ part in that meant he was firmly in Sebastien Pocognoli’s thoughts when Stephen Welsh suffered an untimely injury ahead of the two final Nations League matches.

Over two years on from that hideous night in Munich, this feels like a deserved opportunity to change the narrative which has surrounded him ever since.

‘People pay their money and they can have their opinions on me,’ he said.

‘I’ve got thick skin now. It’s never been an issue for me in terms of managers having to pull me aside and have a word or anything like that.

‘I’m in a good place now. Whatever criticism I get, it only makes me grow stronger as a person.

‘Hopefully, I can come back now a better player than what people saw before.

‘I have still got my strengths and I feel like I’ve added to my game as well from being in different leagues and different environments.’