Tribal Football

Nagelsmann 'surprised' by passive Scotland as Germany hit five in Euros opener

Nagelsmann 'surprised' by passive Scotland as Germany hit five in Euros opener
Nagelsmann 'surprised' by passive Scotland as Germany hit five in Euros opener
Nagelsmann 'surprised' by passive Scotland as Germany hit five in Euros openerAction Plus
Hosts Germany kicked off the Euros with a thumping 5-1 win against Scotland on Friday night.

Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Niclas Füllkrug and Emre Can struck Germany's goals.

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Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann admits Scotland's passive approach surprised him.

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."

Meanwhile, Scotland coach Steve Clarke urged calm after the hammering.

He said, "Germany were outstanding and we couldn’t match them.

"The first half ran way from us very quickly, we didn’t give ourselves a foothold.

"Defensively, we weren’t very good and on the ball we weren’t very good so we gave ourselves a difficult night.

"I thought in the second half the ten men were manful, managed to nick goal, we’re disappointed to lose the fifth.

"What we need to do is still in front of us. Now it’s all about reaction so let’s see how they react.

"Four points is the target. I said that from the start. We didn’t get any tonight so it’s still the target from the next two games."