In the opening match of EURO 2024 in Group A, host Germany easily defeated Scotland 5-1 to have a smooth start in the journey to conquer the championship.

GoalsGermany: Wirtz (10′), Musiala (19′), Havertz (45’+1 pen), Fullkrug (68′), Can (90’+3)Scotland: Rudiger (87′ own goal)

Red cardScotland: Porteous (44′)

Entering the match with Scotland, the German team took the field with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Kai Havertz was the highest striker on the attack line, supported by the trio Florian Wirtz, Ilkay Gundogan, Jamal Musiala below. The home team’s central midfield pair was Toni Kroos – Robert Andrich, while the defense consisted of Maximilian Mittelstadt, Jonathan Tah, Antonio Rudiger and Joshua Kimmich.

Right after the opening whistle, Germany launched a stormy attack that left Scotland dizzy. The visitors only stood firm for 9 minutes before having to pick the ball out of the net. Kroos from midfield sent a great pass to the right wing to Kimmich. The defender passed inside for Wirtz to finish with a one-touch shot from the edge of the box to open the scoring against Scotland.

Less than 10 minutes later, the gap was doubled for Germany. Gundogan passed the ball to Havertz to break into the penalty area. Havertz then controlled it and passed it to Musiala, who kicked it with his right foot, completely defeating goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

Despite being behind, Scotland were powerless to fight back as the ball was completely in Germany’s possession. By the end of the first half, everything was over for Scotland when defender Ryan Porteous received a direct red card for a foul on Gundogan in the penalty area. Germany was awarded a penalty and Havertz made no mistake to increase the score to 3-0.

In the second half, Germany, with the advantage in numbers, rushed forward to attack strongly in search of more goals. After a series of missed opportunities, Die Mannschaft finally got what they needed with the fourth goal thanks to substitute striker Niclas Fullkrug.

In the remaining time, Scotland unexpectedly narrowed the gap in the 87th minute when defender Rudiger accidentally scored an own goal after a rather messy situation. However, in the last minute of extra time, another German substitute, Emre Can, spoke up with a tricky long-range shot to seal a resounding 5-1 victory for the home team on the opening day of EURO 2024.

Thus, Germany had an extremely smooth start at EURO 2024, thereby opening up many hopes for this tournament. In the second match of Group A, Germany will meet Hungary at 23:00 on June 19, while Scotland will face Switzerland.

Line-upGermany: Neuer, Kimmich, Tah, Rudiger, Mittelstadt, Kroos (Can 80′), Andrich (Gross 46′), Musiala (Muller 64′), Gundogan, Wirtz (Sane 63′), Havertz (Fullkrug 63′).Scotland: Gunn, Robertson, Tierney (McKenna 77′), Hendry, Ralston, Porteous, McGregor (Gilmour 67′), McGinn (McLean 67′), Christie (Shankland 82′), McTominay, Adams (Hanley 46′).