Five things we learnt from Germany 5-1 Scotland

It was the stuff of dreams for Germany, but nightmares for poor Scotland. The opener of EURO2024 at the Allianz Arena tonight saw no fewer than six goals, all of them scored by German players (albeit Antonio Rüdiger’s was in his own net).

After bringing the party to Munich for the last few days, the Tartan Army were left disappointed by a dismal showing from their team. Meanwhile, Julian Nagelsmann’s side’s performance tonight will only bolster their hopes of a first major tournament win in a decade, with their array of talent on full display. Jamal Musiala made a strong opening case for Young Player of the Tournament against a Scotland defence that needs some serious work.

Here are five things we learnt from the first game of EURO2024.

Scotland’s defensive discipline needs work

Probably an obvious statement when you look at the scoreline, but let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. If Steve Clarke’s side are to fulfil their hopes of moving past the group stages for the first time, they need to sort out their back line – and fast.

In the opening minutes, it looked as though Scotland had a clear game plan of a compact low block to keep out their opponents. Captain Andy Robertson leads defence that boasts quality players like Kieran Tierney, and they should be well reinforced in defensive midfield by the likes of Scott McTominay and Callum McGregor. However, it all fell to pieces very quickly. Despite Scotland having nine bodies behind the ball a lot of the time they were out of position, it was still far too easy for Germany. The likes of Kai Havertz, Toni Kroos, and İlkay Gündoğan had very little difficulty finding pockets of space between the lines and they lacked discipline in marking, perhaps best showcased on their second goal where Gündoğan’s pass split the defence like a knife through butter.

It created confusion and panic, which culminated in a red card for Ryan Porteous’ reckless challenge on Gündoğan just before halftime – and, lo and behold, a penalty and another German goal. To have any hope of achieving their stated aim of four points, they will have to learn to cope with high-quality attacks.

Jamal Musiala makes strong early entry for Young Player of the Tournament

That point brings us neatly to the most impressive player tonight: at just 21, Jamal Musiala looked the liveliest and most dangerous of all. His 19th-minute goal was a beautiful strike, which he preceded with an even more exquisite bit of skill to evade the defenders. He was a nightmare for Scotland’s back line all night, dancing past them from the left wing and into the box with seemingly no effort. In fact, it was their desperation to stop him scoring that saw them almost give away a penalty after his goal (though it turned out to be a foul outside the box).

As an 18-year-old Musiala featured at the last European Championships and he was also in the squad in Qatar the following year. His rise through the ranks has been underway for some time, and now he looks set to become a centrepiece of this German side.

Wirtz excels on major tournament debut

Though Florian Wirtz has long been on the books of the German national team, debuting in March 2021, he missed out on EURO2020 and again the Qatar World Cup from injury. this year is finally his chance to represent his country on the biggest stage and he did so with aplomb, opening the scoring inside ten minutes with a first-time finish into the bottom left hand corner.

Even before that he had shown his intentions, breaking through on the Scottish goal in the first minute only to be ruled offside. Wirtz appeared full of energy and, after a season in which he helped Bayer Leverkusen clinch their historic title, he is in prime position to continue a meteoric rise. Two 21-year-olds scoring the opening two goals of the tournament feels like an a perfectly scripted microcosm of Germany’s hopes for their new generation.

Extraordinary depth in German ranks

If Scotland thought they would get some respite from the withdrawals of Musiala, Wirtz, and Havertz in the second half, they were sorely mistaken. Had the names on the backs of their shirts not changed, it would have been difficult to notice that the ‘best eleven’ were no longer on the pitch. Nagelsmann is in the joyous situation of having a wealth of youth and experience to bring on when he feels his starters deserve a rest, without having to sacrifice any quality.

Die Mannschaft’s two second-half goals were both courtesy of such substitutions. Niclas Füllkrug found the net within five minutes of his introduction and Emre Can, who was only called up to the squad a few days ago, added a fifth goal in stoppage time.

When it’s not only your starters that can score, or your first-choice subs, but also your last-minute additions to the squad, that’s a pretty comfortable position for a manager to be in.

Scotland disappoint, but the Tartan Army do not

It feels necessary to find a positive to touch on for Scotland, and in truth that was their fans. There were well over the theoretical allocation of 10,000 Scottish fans inside the Allianz tonight, and they made sure the home crowd knew about it. The performance was little to write home about, let alone sing about, but that didn’t stop the Tartan Army from contributing to the atmosphere in an admirable manner. Scots had been piling into Munich for days ahead of the game and, while they must have known a loss was on the cards, few would have let themselves imagine a defeat of this kind. Despite the trouncing, they were on fine form – and were finally given something to actually cheer about in the 87th minute, though it came from a German defender rather than a Scottish attacker. After Antonio Rüdiger’s own goal, several renditions of “you’re not singing, you’re not singing, you’re not singing any more…” were heard loud and clear, even in spite of (at the time, before it was extended a few moments later) the three-goal gap faced by their team. Classic.

You can follow reaction to the tournament opener, and every match as they continue, here on FromTheSpot.