Robertson's rallying call can define Scotland's Euro 2024

As Scotland visualise walking out against hosts Germany in the opening game of Euro 2024 today, they will expect the eyes of the world to be on them.

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

Statements of Scottish defiance are now rarely heard at major tournaments, yet on the eve of the Euros, captain Andy Robertson declared: “If we perform the way we know we can perform, we believe we can make history.”

It has been 26 years since Scotland played a fixture of such international magnitude. Against Germany, there will be a similarity to when the Tartan Army took on Brazil at the Stade de France in the opening game of the 1998 World Cup. That tournament, like many before, became one of glorious failure for Scotland. A generation on, this team believes they can become the first to progress from a group stage.

Robertson admitted an opening game against the hosts “doesn’t get much tougher”. Germany will be fueled by emotion and a sense of timing, while head coach Julian Nagelsmann issued a rallying cry of his own. “We want to have the country behind us, to push us forward,” he said. A nation expects a victory to send Germany hurtling into a golden summer. It is up to Scotland to stand in their way.

They will do so with the Tartan Army behind them. For the thousands who filled the Marienplatz square in Munich yesterday, Scotland’s first major men’s tournament abroad since 1998 feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For the 26 players in Steve Clarke’s squad, those emotions are only enhanced: the majority will not have faced an occasion like it, and may not do so again. It is the game of their lives.