Germany began their Euro 2024 campaign on home soil with a 5-1 thrashing of Scotland in Munich.
Friday’s curtain raiser proved to be a particularly one-sided affair in the end despite the Tartan Army travelling in their immense numbers and filling a significant portion of the Munich Football Arena.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side looked a well-oiled machine and much like the legendary German sides of yesteryear, while the ten-man Scots crumbled and made the hosts’ task much easier.
How the game unfolded
Inside the opening ten minutes, Germany took the lead. The hosts worked the ball through Scotland’s rigid defensive setup with two direct passes – a switch of play from Toni Kroos to find Joshua Kimmich, and then a cut-back to pick out Florian Wirtz. The forward’s first-time drive from the edge of the box was pushed onto the post by goalkeeper Angus Gunn before the ball trickled over the line.
Germany added their second before we even reached the midway point of the first half. Ilkay Gundogan’s delightful through ball found Kai Havertz, who cut back inside and found Jamal Musiala, with the Bayern Munich wizard swivelling and firing into the roof of the net.
It seemed to have gone from bad to worse for Scotland soon after when Musiala fell under a double challenge from Kieran Tierney and Ryan Christie, resulting in referee Clement Turpin pointing to the penalty spot. However, a VAR review revealed Christie’s initial contact on Musiala’s right leg came outside the box and a free-kick was awarded instead. Havertz’s effort from 20 yards was well held by Gunn.
Just before the break, Germany were this time handed a penalty after a VAR review. Gundogan saw a header pushed aside by Gunn, but when trying to score the rebound, his ankle was caught by a studs-up challenge from Ryan Porteous, who was shown a red card upon review too. Havertz stepped up and slotted home to add the third of the evening.
Germany went in search of a fourth goal after the interval and probably should have found one when a deep Kroos cross was volleyed narrowly over by Wirtz.
The fourth eventually arrived after 68 minutes through substitute Niclas Fullkrug. Musiala fired in a wicked pass to Gundogan just outside the box, and his mis-control allowed Fullkrug to rush onto the ball and thump it into the top corner.
Fullkrug thought he had grabbed his brace shortly after in much scruffier fashion, with Gunn pushing his shot up over himself and past the line, but this was chalked off for offside.
Scotland’s…
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