Ten man Scotland suffer heavy defeat in Euros opener as Germany take all three points

Ten-man Scotland have suffered a heavy defeat in the opening game of Euro 2024 as Germany proved too strong in Munich.

The hosts blew Steve Clarke’s side away with a 5-1 victory on Friday night as the championships got under way.

And in all honestly it could have been even more as Germany eased to the three points that gets their campaign off to an impressive start.

Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz all scored in the first half as Steve Clarke’s side were also reduced to ten men when Ryan Porteous was sent off.

The hosts continued to dominate in the second half and Scotland survived a few scares before Nicolas Fullkrug added a fourth to put the game well and truly out of sight.

An own goal by Antonio Rudiger in the final stages gave the Tartan Army something to cheer amid an otherwise disappointing night.

Emre Can scored in injury time to add to Scotland’s misery and make it 5-1 to secure the biggest win ever in the opening game of a European Championships.

Germany had the best of the early stages and got themselves in front after just ten minutes when Wirtz blasted the ball into the net to make it 1-0.

Angus Gunn managed to get a hand to the shot but it wasn’t enough to keep it out of the net as the host nation took an early lead.

And their lead was doubled just nine minutes later when Musiala fired it in from close range to make it 2-0 with just 19 minutes gone.

It now looked as though the Germans had smelled blood and they threatened to put the game out of sight within the first half hour.

The referee pointed to the spot just moments later but Steve Clarke and the Tartan Army breathed a sigh of relief when a VAR check showed the tackle was just at the edge of the box and a free-kick was awarded instead.

It should have been three just before half-time but Gunn made a good save from a Gundogan header before Porteous and McTominay blocked the following shots.

But things quickly went from bad to worse for Scotland when the referee was called over to the monitor again for the challenge by Porteous and made a decision to point to the spot and award Germany a penalty, while also issuing a red card to the Watford defender.

Arsenal forward Havertz stepped up and slotted the ball past Gunn to give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead before half-time.

Scotland were left with a mountain to climb in the second 45 being a man and three-goals down and Clarke took off Che Adams for Grant Hanley in an attempt to shore up the backline.

However the Germans stayed on the front-foot after the break and continued to put Gunn under pressure and he was forced to make a couple of saves early in the half to keep the score at 3-0.

Callum McGregor was also called into action when he made a vital block to avoid what looked like a certain goal.

Leroy Sane should have made it four on the hour mark but he produced a weak effort that was easily saved by Gunn with it increasingly looking like a case of damage limitation for Scotland.

The next goal looked as if it was always coming and with just over 20 minutes remaining it did when Fullkrug made it 4-0 with an unstoppable finish into the top left hand corner.

Fullkrug had the ball in the net again but Scotland’s blushes were saved when the officials found the forward to be offside.

But despite the defeat one of the biggest cheers of the night came when Scotland grabbed a late consolation after a Scott McKenna was deflected into the net by Rudiger to make it 4-1.