Steve Clarke urges Scotland fans to keep the faith after sobering opening-night rout by merciless Germany

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STEVE CLARKE begged the Tartan Army to keep the faith after five-star Germany inflicted a night of Euro embarrassment on Scotland.

Trailing to goals from Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala after 20 minutes, the opening game of Euro 2024 went from bad to worse when defender Ryan Porteous was red-carded for a wild challenge on Ilkay Gundogan and Kai Havertz converted the spot-kick.

Forced to play the entire second half with ten men, Niclas Fullkrug added a fourth and even a late own goal from Antonio Rudiger failed to offer any consolation to the outclassed Scots as Emre Can made it 5-1.

Large sections of the 10,000 Scotland fans in the Allianz Arena left before the final whistle, with Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann later claiming the visitors looked ‘afraid’.

With Switzerland next up in Cologne on Wednesday, Clarke claimed his side are better than they showed last night and asked fans to stick by the team.

Asked if this was his toughest night as national team manager, he added: ‘No, I’ve had tough nights before. I’ll cope.

Steve Clarke and Andy Robertson reflect on a grim evening as Scotland lick their wounds

Jack Hendry's face says it all as goal No 5, from substitute Emre Can, hits the back of the net

Callum McGregor leads the inquest following the concession of the second goal to Musiala

‘I believe the players will get over this quickly. I have never doubted my players and I never will.

‘What would I say to the fans? Keep the faith and we’ll see you at the next game.

‘It was obviously a difficult night. We didn’t play to our standards while I thought the German team were excellent.

‘The mood afterwards was one of disappointment. We’re better than that, we’re a better team than that. And hopefully we can show that in the next two games.

‘This was always going to be a tough night for us to get something. We now need four points from our next two games (against the Swiss and Hungary) and that’s what we’ll focus on.

‘This game ran away from us very quickly. Defensively we weren’t very good, and with the ball we weren’t very good. A disappointing night.

Clarke exchanges words with Scotland coach Austin MacPhee in a curious touchline flare-up

‘By conceding the third and obviously getting the sending off as well, it was always going to make it a difficult night after that. It was then about damage limitation and seeing what we could get.

‘In the second-half I thought the boys gave everything they could. They worked ever so hard to try to keep the scoreline reasonable. But we have to move on from this quickly. In the next two matches we have to be more competitive.

‘We will go away and analyse the game as we always do and work on Switzerland and the shape of the team.

‘Now it’s all about reaction. Let’s see how they react. Four points is the target in the next two games.’

Damningly, the Scots failed to muster a single shot of their own on target in the 90 minutes, their goal coming from German defender Rudiger after 87 minutes.

‘I don’t look at statistics,’ said Clarke. ‘It’s certainly not something I look at right after a game.

Clarke takes in the view of the Tartan Army before kick-off, before things turned sour

‘That said, somebody told me their expected goals was less than two. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what I heard.

‘That tells you how clinical the German team were.

‘They showed everybody that, when it comes to competitive games, they’re ready. Germany were outstanding and we couldn’t catch them.’

Clarke also defended his decision to leave midfielder Billy Gilmour out of his starting line-up, fielding Ryan Christie from the start instead.

He added: ‘It would be difficult to leave anyone out of the starting line-up.

‘We couldn’t get a foothold in the game. I’m not too sure if it would have made any difference (had Gilmour started). But we will find out.’

Germany celebrate the opener from Wirtz, and there would be plenty more to shout about

Millions of television viewers saw Clarke appear to have a sharp exchange of views with set-piece coach Austin MacPhee on the touchline during the game.

The Scotland manager later took exception to a journalist asking him what had happened.

He asked: ‘Is that a serious question? We are fine. I can’t even remember it. It’s emotional on the touchline.’

Meanwhile, Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann rubbed salt into Scottish wounds by admitting he did not expect Clarke’s side to be so poor on the opening night of the tournament.

‘I was surprised Scotland were not that aggressive in the first 20 minutes,’ he said. ‘Our ball retention was very concentrated and the first 15 minutes was very good.

‘Scotland were kind of surprised, afraid, they felt we had a lot of offensive players who could score goals, they defended a bit deeper.

Jack Hendry rises highest under pressure from German substitute Niclas Fullkrug

German boss Julian Nagelsmann celebrates with his girlfriend Lena Wurzernberger at full-time

‘Scotland defended deeper, they didn’t have the high press like they did in the qualifying games. The first 20 minutes were key for the game.

‘It’s never easy in the first game when you are the host country but we stayed focused for the whole game.

‘I am happy with the performance and the three points. We were brilliant in the first 20 minutes.

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

‘I think Scotland were surprised by our ball possession tonight, it was very concentrated.’