Euro 2024: Robertson admits Scotland didn’t turn up in Germany thrashing

Andy Robertson was critical of Scotland's performance against Germany.

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Robertson

Andrew Robertson admitted Scotland didn’t turn up as they lost 5-1 to Germany in their first game of Euro 2024.

The Tartan Army failed to lay a glove on the hosts throughout the encounter at the Allianz Arena, with Ryan Porteous’ first-half red card only adding to the misery.

Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz put Germany 3-0 up at half-time as Niclas Fullkrug and Emre Can netted after the break, with Antonio Rudiger’s own goal the only consolation for Steve Clarke’s men.

Scotland’s captain told ITV Sport: “First half we just got it all wrong really.

We didn’t really show up, we weren’t aggressive enough, we allowed good players too much time on the ball.

“We obviously had a game plan and we did and their game plan worked and ours didn’t. But it wasn’t because of the [lack of] practice, we just didn’t put it together on the pitch.

It’s a reminder of how tough this tournament is. You’re playing against world-class teams and they showed that today.

“Their big players showed up and they were excellent all over the park and made it really difficult for us. They had an answer for pretty much everything we had.

“But I don’t think we’ve played to our maximum and you have to against the top teams.”

‘We have to sort it quick’

The Liverpool left-back could not hide his disappointment in Munich but insisted he and his team-mates must pick themselves up quickly ahead of facing Switzerland on Tuesday.

Robertson knows they will still be backed by supporters, who played their part generating a brilliant atmosphere in the German capital.

 

He added: “We’re well backed at this tournament, we know that. We’ve got so many good supporters and today was hugely disappointing.

“But you’re playing against the host nation and it’s the first game and it doesn’t get much tougher than that.

“We have to bounce back quickly because there was a lot that was wrong today and we have to sort it because we have a quick turnaround on Tuesday [vs Switzerland].”

‘I was surprised by Scotland’

Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann said he did not expect his side to win so comfortably after talking up Scotland’s threat before the game.

He said: “I’m happy, I’m satfisifed, it’s not easy to have the first game in our own country.

“We were brilliant in the first 20 minutes, I was happy with the performance.

“We conceded but at the end it’s okay, it’s a good sign that our players complained about conceding.

“I was kind of surprised that Scotland weren’t that aggressive in first 20 minutes. I think they were surprised by our ball possession, it was very concentrated.

“They then defended deeper and didn’t high press as they have in the qualifying games at times.”

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Picture of Cian Cheesbrough

Cian Cheesbrough

Cian is a sports journalist with experience writing for national titles, including LiveScore, MailOnline, Eurosport and Sky Sports. He has covered a number of key events during his time in the industry, including from the press box at live Champions League fixtures.

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