Sensational Start to Euro 2024 Football: Germany Crush Scotland 5-1 in Opening Match
The opening match of Euro 2024 between Germany and Scotland ended with a 5-1 victory for the hosts at the Munich Stadium.
For the first time in history, the opening match of the European Championships ended with a four-goal difference in favour of one of the teams. The previous record was 0:3 in the 2021 Turkey-Italy match.
Germany immediately gained a three-goal lead in the first half and finished the match with a numerical majority on the field.
Midfielder Florian Wirtz scored the first goal of Euro 2024. After the debutant's shot at major international forums, goalkeeper Angus Gunn deflected the ball into his own net.
In the 19th minute, Jamal Musiala doubled the hosts' lead. He finished off a quick attack involving Ilkay Gundogan and Kai Havertz with a powerful shot to make it 2-0.
Scotland didn't score a single shot in the opening 45 minutes and by the half-time break was already down 0-3. Havertz scored the dressing room goal from the penalty spot.
Defender Ryan Porteous also left his team short-handed in an 11-metre penalty corner. Red card for a dangerous tackle on Gundogan in the box.
After an hour of playing time, Julian Nagelsmann had a substitute: forward Niklas Füllkrug scored five minutes after coming on with a powerful shot into the back of the net.
It took Fjullkrug a few minutes to score a second time, as Scotland was saved from a fifth goal by an offside call.
Scotland avoided a dry spell in the 87th minute. Defender Antonio Rüdiger scored a curious drive-by goal to make it 4-1.
In stoppage time, Emre Can scored the final score in favour of the hosts with a long-range shot - 5-1.
For the first time in history, the German national team scored three goals in one half at the European Championships.
So after the first round, it topped Group A. Scotland dropped to last place and will await the result of the Hungary-Switzerland match on 15 June.
As The Gaze wrote yesterday, a Scottish football fan walked 1600 km from Scotland to Germany in 41 days to get to this European Championship.
