Germany cruise to victory over Scotland in curtainraiser

Host Germany thrashed ten-men Scotland 5-1 in the Euro 2024 curtainraiser at Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday, reported Xinhua.

Goals from Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Niclas Fullkrug and Emre Can lifted Julian Nagelsmann's side to the victory in Group A.

Germany started highly motivated on home soil and came off with a bright start as Wirtz unleashed a shot into the bottom left corner to give the hosts the lead with ten minutes gone.

The hosts gained momentum and made it two nine minutes later after Havertz's through ball allowed Musiala to drill the ball into the roof of the net.

Things went from bad to worse for the Scottish at the brink of halftime as Ryan Porteous was sent off for a rude foul play on Ilkay Gundogan, allowing Havertz to triple the advantage from the penalty spot into the center of the goal.

After the restart, Germany benefitted on its numerical advantage and continued to create opportunities, but Antonio Rudiger's long-range effort forced Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn into action six minutes into the second half.

Gunn remained in the thick of things as he had to be on guard to deny the efforts from Wirtz and Leroy Sane in quick succession.

Germany eventually made it four with 68 minutes played as joker striker Niclas Fullkrug hammered home a rebound five minutes after his substitution.

Fullkrug thought he had wrapped his brace nine minutes later but his shot from close range was ruled offside by the VAR.

Scotland reduced the arrears out of the blue after Rudiger cleared a header from Scott MeKenna into the wrong goal to make it 4-1 on the scoreboards.

However, the Germans were not done with the scoring and restored their four-goal advantage as joker Can capitalized on Thomas Muller's square pass to round off the 5-1 victory, which is the highest EURO win for Germany.

"We played very powerful in the first 20 minutes. Scotland was impressed and we scored two quick goals. We created more chances but stayed focussed until the final whistle," said Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann.

Germany will face Hungary in their second group match on Wednesday while Scotland will play against Switzerland.