Germany humiliate Scotland in the opening game of Euro 2024

Scotland were defeated 5-1 by Germany in the Euro 2024 opener thanks to goals from Wirtz, Muisala, Havertz, Füllkrug and Can . The Scots were swept off their feet by the hosts and will have a lot of improvements to make if they want to get anything from this years competition.

                                                                                    Photo by Bradley Collyer

The Scotland fans did get something to cheer about when Antonio Rüdiger put the ball into his own net in the 87th minute to deny Germany a clean sheet but these cheers did not last very long as Emre Can scored minutes later in the dying seconds of the game with a curled strike into the right hand side to give Germany an opening day victory.

Germany's display saw them have 72% possession and 20 shots compared to Scotland's one.

Florian Wirtz became the youngest goalscorer at the Men's European Championship for Germany when he opened the scoring inside 10 minutes. His effort from outside the box couldn't be kept out by goalkeeper Angus Gunn who pushed the shot onto the inside of the post and into the back of the net.

Jamal Musiala then added a second for the hosts when he smashed it in from close range nine minutes later.

With Scotland on the ropes, things almost went from bad to worse when Ryan Christie clattered Musiala to the ground resulting in the referee pointing to the spot. Luckily for the Scots, Var overturned the decision and gave a free kick instead to give them a glimmer of hope.

However it was only a matter of time before things got worse and on the verge of halftime Ryan Porteous gave away a penalty and received a red card for a reckless challenge on İlkay Gündoğan. Kai Havertz made no mistake and calmly converted from the spot to make it three.

Germany continued their dominance into the second half and substitute Niclas Füllkrug added the fourth in the 68th minute with a stunning strike into the top right corner. Füllkrug then had the ball in the back of the net for a second time but it was ruled for offside after his shoulder was slightly ahead of the last defender.