Germany laid down a marker to their Euros rivals by dispatching Scotland 5-1 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Niclas Fullkrug and Emre Can all got on the scoresheet as Germany completed their biggest-ever European Championship victory and sealed the biggest win in history in an opening match.
It was a difficult night for Scotland, who are bidding to get out of a Euros group for the first time, and captain Robertson said afterwards: ‘First half, we just got it all wrong really, didn’t show up, weren’t aggressive enough, and we let good players get on the ball.
‘Second half, we’re down to 10 men and I thought lads dug in really well. We’re so well backed over here, today was hugely disappointing.
‘We have to bounce back quickly because there was lots wrong here and it’s a quick turnaround now. Maybe it’s a reminder of how tough this tournament is.
‘Their big players showed up and were excellent all over the park and had an answer for pretty much everything we had. I don’t think we’ve played to our maximum. We have to dust ourselves down and go again.’
Ex-Manchester United captain Keane was baffled by Robertson’s admission that Scotland were ‘not aggressive enough’ and said the Liverpool star was coming out with ‘rubbish’ in his post-match interview.
‘Andy Robertson said Scotland weren’t aggressive enough – you have to be aggressive in a game of football,’ he said on ITV.
‘When you’re up against opposition who are much stronger than you, being aggressive is part of being a footballer.
‘I love watching skilful players and the talent we saw from the German players was great but my goodness, you have to hit people at this level. Properly, aggressively, doing it in the right way.
‘If you step off like Scotland did tonight, it’s alright saying you have a game plan – that’s rubbish. It’s just rubbish coming out from Robertson.
‘It’s alright saying you’re going to be angry tomorrow, they should be angry for a long time.’
Keane added: ‘They were second best in every aspect of the game. Physically, tactically and even mentally.
‘We said before the game about being competitive, they weren’t even that. Two goals down after 20 minutes, the sending off compounded it.
‘They showed a little bit of fighting spirit in the second half, as you’d expect from Scotland. But they were out of their depth. The difference in quality was chalk and cheese.’
What did the Scotland and Germany managers say?
Despite a harrowing evening in Munich, Scotland can still qualify for the knockout stages of Euro 2024, though they will need to produce much better performances against Group A rivals Hungary and Switzerland.
‘Germany showed everybody that when it comes to competitive games, they’re ready,’ Scotland boss Steve Clarke said.
‘They were outstanding, and we couldn’t match them. The first half ran away from us very quickly.
‘We didn’t give ourselves a foothold; defensively, we weren’t very good and with the ball we weren’t very good. The end result is a disappointing night.’
On his team’s Euros hopes, Clarke added: ‘What we have to focus on is yet to come. It’s still in front of us. It’s all about reaction, so let’s see how they react.
‘Four points is the target, we’ve said that from the start. We didn’t get any tonight – so that’s it from the next two games.’
For Germany, this was the perfect start to their home Euros and a performance that suggested they will be a tough team to beat.
Julian Nagelsmann said: ‘I’m happy, I’m satisfied, 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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