Euro 2024 live: Scotland get the party started in Munich ahead of opening game against Germany

“Basically at every tournament on home soil (there is pressure). It is even more special,” Toni Kroos told a press conference.

“You get feedback instantly, the positive and the negative. We have a big responsibility for the atmosphere in the country for the next few weeks. We know what this is about but it is also a great honour and joy to play this tournament. How many players do get to play a home tournament.

“We know the pressure is there, we don’t want to brush it aside, but we have to enjoy this pressure. We want to influence the atmosphere positively and we have to make amends for past tournaments. You know what is possible when you see the squad quality we have. But we also see that during some phases in matches there is room for improvement.

“There is no better opportunity to show in a tournament that we can play well. That is the task. If we want to play a good role then it is inevitable that we must minimise these phases when we don’t play well as a team. These phases where we have problems, because there are teams coming (at the tournament) that will punish us and then the tournament is over.”

Scotland have won four of their 17 encounters with Germany over the years.

Their last win was 1-0 in 1999, when Don Hutchinson scored for the Tartan Army.

Miguel Delaney: Romelu Lukaku. Actually a rare player at these Euros with a prolific international scoring record, as well as a forgiving opening round with a team that still has talent. Lukaku is also more rested than we’ve seen him at most recent tournaments.

Richard Jolly: Kane. Tempted to say Mbappe, though tipping France for much else suggests it could be him. But England’s group and potential last-16 match, if they win it, offers the sort of possibility for Kane to top-score, even if he does not find the net at the business end of the tournament.

Jack Rathborn: Gianluca Scamacca. A fine season with Atalanta after a forgettable spell with West Ham. The 25-year-old can translate that form, with 12 goals since March, to change a pretty ordinary return of one goal in 16 caps so far at international level. Albania, up first, brings an opportunity to get out in front.

Lawrence Ostlere: Kane. He should get plenty of chances with a raft of creative players around him, and it is easy to envisage him scoring a few penalties along the way.

Luke Baker: I’ll again go bold and say Kai Havertz. I think Germany will go well and Havertz, after growing in confidence with Arsenal over the second half of the campaign, is likely to be the hosts’ first-choice No 9, at least initially.

Karl Matchett: Is he still elite? No. Should he be starting for Portugal? No. Will Cristiano Ronaldo still score two tap-ins, a header and a penalty in a very, very average group stage? Probably. Can easily see a case where a group-stage bully ends up the winner this time around, so I’ll go with him to be different. Might need one in the knockouts, but Martinez’s inability to remove him from the line-up should cater to that.

Alex Pattle: Kylian Mbappe. A pretty safe answer, admittedly, although I don’t expect any of France’s group-stage rivals to bleed tons of goals. Rather, I think consistent contributions over the course of a deep run will get Mbappe to the Golden Boot.

Jamie Braidwood: Mbappe. Failing to score at Euro 2020 will be a further shot of motivation. That tournament will have hurt.

Michael Jones: I’m going for Ronaldo. Since Roberto Martinez took over as manager, questions over Ronaldo’s place in the team have died down. He’s going to start and he’s going to score goals. With a relatively easy group to get through, Ronaldo could light up the Euros one last time.

Kieran Jackson: Kane. On the assumption he is fully fit, Europe’s top marksman should be eyeing another Golden Boot after claiming the prize at the 2018 World Cup. Group games against Serbia and Slovenia in particular should see the Bayern Munich striker have ample chances and, if not, England always seem to get a penalty or two to kickstart Kane’s tally.

Sonia Twigg: Mbappe. It is hard to see a situation where France do not go deep into the tournament, and Mbappe is at the forefront of their impressive firepower. Because of how good the team is and how many games they will likely play, it is hard to look past the French forward.

Harry Latham-Coyle: Niclas Fullkrug. The resurgence of the traditional No 9 has been a pleasant, surprising trend of the last few months across European football, and it is an archetype that tends to thrive in tournament football. Fullkrug may not start the tournament in Germany’s first-choice side but a couple of impactful bench cameos could set up a summer to remember for the Dortmund striker.

Germany midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic will miss Euro 2024 with an illness and coach Julian Nagelsmann has called up Emre Can as his replacement.

Bayern Munich’s 20-year-old Pavlovic enjoyed a meteoric rise this season that earned him a Germany call-up but he had been struggling with an infection that ruled him out of their final warmup game against Greece last week.

“We wanted another Six in the squad and we decided to nominate Emre Can,” Nagelsmann said in a statement.

“He was instantly excited and said he was ready to join the team. We wanted a player in the squad who has played a lot of matches and who knows how to handle pressure. He fits the profile and we can now use him.”

Pavlovic’ absence may not be a massive blow to the team with the player having earned only one cap but the short-notice change is not ideal for Nagelsmann’s plans.

“It is a shame for Pavlo who had played really well,” said Germany team mate Florian Wirtz in a press conference. “We will talk with him in the next days no doubt about it.”

Wirtz, who helped Bayer Leverkusen win the Bundesliga last season, knows full well how disappointing it is to miss out on a major tournament, with the attacking midfielder having missed the 2022 World Cup through injury.

“It was a huge setback for me, to be injured before the World Cup. Obviously now this is my first tournament and it is always special to play at home,” he said. “I am looking forward to the first game against Scotland.”

Netherlands 1 Scotland 0 (June 12, 1992)

After failing to make it to any of the previous eight European Championships, Scotland eventually qualified for the first time when it was staged in Sweden in 1992. Their debut at the Euros was in Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium, against Rinus Michels’ Netherlands, who had won the previous staging of the tournament in 1988. Managed by Andy Roxburgh, the Scots held their own for most of the match against the likes of Ronald Koeman, Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten before their resistance was eventually breached in the 75th minute by 23-year-old Ajax striker Dennis Bergkamp. The Scots lost their second game against Germany and bowed out with their heads held high after defeating the CIS 3-0 their final group match.

Netherlands 0 Scotland 0 (June 10, 1996)

At their second Euros in England four years later, Scotland – by now under the charge of Roxburgh’s assistant, Craig Brown – once again kicked off their tournament against the Dutch. The match took place at Villa Park and as they had done in Sweden, the Scots again managed to frustrate their more-illustrious opponents for long periods. This time it paid off in the form of a goalless draw, but it was not enough to set them on their way to the knockout phase as a defeat against England at Wembley proved damaging before they exited the tournament in agonising fashion, despite winning their final match against Switzerland.

Scotland 0 Czech Republic 2 (June 14, 2021)

A nation was ablaze with hype as Scotland prepared for their first match at a major tournament for 23 years and there was the added quirk of it being on home soil. To mark the 60th anniversary of the tournament, UEFA decided the hosting of Euro 2020 would be shared by 11 cities across the continent, with Glasgow one of those selected. Due to the Covid pandemic, the competition was delayed by a year until 2021 and only around 12,000 fans were allowed into Hampden Park for the clash with the Czech Republic to allow for social distancing. With high hopes that they could capitalise on home advantage, Steve Clarke’s side fell flat and lost 2-0 as Patrik Schick scored a double, including a stunning second-half strike from close to the half-way line that caught David Marshall off his line. The defeat left the Scots up against it in their quest to reach the knockout stage and they managed to take just one point from their remaining two matches against England and Croatia.

Walter, a 35-year-old Sumatran orangutan living at Dortmund Zoo, will make predictions for all matches involving the German national team as well as the final in July.

He previously predicted that Borussia Dortmund would win the 2014 cup final in the country against Bayern Munich, by picking up the Dortmund shirt and putting it on his head, however he was wrong as Bayern beat their opponents 2-0.

“Germany are not at the same level now as they were then,” former Scotland international Gordon Strachan told PA. “When you look back at the experience they had, they were a good group.

“But I remember when Kech (Anya) scored a wonderful goal after about 60 minutes, we had been playing well before that and I really thought we could go on and win it. The longer that game went on, the more our players grew into it and I stood there feeling really confident. But for all the good football we played, we lost a goal from a set-play.

“It was actually a foul on Charlie Mulgrew. If there had been VAR then, it would have been a foul. But even after that there was a point where Naisy (Steven Naismith) went through and got brought down and the guy should have been sent off. We had loads of respect for them but we had nothing to fear, and I think that’s the mood that Steve will be hoping for from his team. Respect them but don’t fear them, and I think he’s got players that can do it.”

He said: “The first Euros was massive for us, now we want to compete. Last time we felt in the England game we did pretty well but let ourselves down in the other two or thought we could do a bit better.

“We don’t want to have any regrets this time. What’s the worst that can happen? We go into a long list of teams that have failed to make it out the group so let’s start from that point and move on from it. We believe we can be the team to make history. We have put ourselves in a good position by qualifying first and foremost and let’s see what we can do.

“We’re excited by the challenge, we’re excited about what’s ahead and if we perform the way I know we can perform then I’m confident we can make history. We know what is at stake. As I said, what’s the worst that can happen? You join the list of good Scotland teams that failed to make it out the group.

“The flipside to that is we can be the first team to do that. We have lots of incentives to do well but that is the main one, to become a legendary squad, the first team to make it to the knockout stages.

“That is driving us forward but we are in a difficult group and we have to be at our best to have a chance of doing that.”