Robertson after Scotland’s heavy defeat to Germany: the opening game was a reminder of how difficult the tournament will be. We need to bounce back quickly

The opening game of the European Championships is history and will not be remembered at its best by Scotland fans. They witnessed their team being thwarted, conceding 5 goals and losing 1:5 to open the tournament. Captain Andrew Robertson spoke after the game and tried to spur his team on towards the next battles.

EURO 2024 is here and the opening match saw home side Germany take on Scotland. There was no doubt about the favourite, but many fans believed that the spirited Scots could turn the favourite around for the points.

It didn’t happen. Germany cruised to a smooth victory, already leading by three goals at half-time and against ten when Watford defender Ryan Porteous was sent off. At the end of the game, the scoreboard read 5-1.

“Everything was wrong in the first half. The opponent stuck to his plan. We couldn’t transfer it to the pitch. And when we went to ten, we were no longer an equal opponent,” captain Robertson told ITV Sport.

The last time the Scots suffered such a debacle was 12 years ago, when they lost to the USA by the same score in a preliminary match. Robertson also mentioned after the match that the result was a testament to the difficulty of the tournament.

“We picked ourselves up in the second half, but it was tough. We got more stupid goals. The first game of the championship against the home team, it couldn’t have been much harder. The opening game was a reminder of how difficult the tournament is going to be. We have to bounce back quickly, the matches are coming in quick succession,” he added.

The Scots can look forward to at least two more matches. They will challenge Switzerland at the tournament and try to beat Hungary at the end of the group stage. However, after the last result, they are rather the underdog of the group.

After all, the matches in 2024 did not suggest that Scotland will be in great shape. They first fell to the Netherlands 0:4, then fell to Northern Ireland (0:1), won 2:0 against Gibraltar and drew 2:2 with Finland.

Source: ITV Sport, UEFA