Hope springs eternal for the Tartan Army as Scotland deal with Germany fallout

The trouble with following Scotland is that a major disappointment is never far away, and there was a monumental one on Friday night in Munich.

After months of anticipation and days of fans partying on the Bavarian streets the national team were taken apart by Germany, the 10 men battered 5-1 and the consolation goal coming off the head of German defender Antonio Rüdiger.

By some estimates 200,000 Scots have made the trip to Germany for a first major tournament on foreign soil since 1998, and now have a chastening opening game to go with the inevitable hangovers.

The Herald took to the streets to find out how the Tartan Army footsoldiers are coping with a monumental thrashing on opening night.

Barry and son Luke, from Greenock, flew to Heathrow then Frankfurt before making their way down on the train and are taking the positives.

Barry and son Luke, from Greenock, in Germany to follow Scotland (Image: Newsquest)

Barry said: "The atmosphere in the stadium was unbelievable, one of the best days of my life as a Scotland fan. We had a little bit of a hiccup with the underground right enough, it broke down and we were stopped for about 40 minutes which was a bit scary.

“But the walk up to the stadium, being in the stadium, the anthems – that’s a memory we’ll both have for the rest of our lives.

"I thought we stood off Germany a bit too much, we were a bit too respectful. They are the hosts and they’re a cracking team but we probably needed to get in their faces a little bit more.

“I don’t think we did ourselves justice, to be honest."

Gail has been following Scotland to away games for 20 years, and admits that the early German goals after months of anticipation knocked the stuffing out of the Tartan Army.

(Image: Newsquest)

She said: "The atmosphere was absolutely amazing, everyone was bouncing and happy – there was a real party atmosphere then everything just went a bit flat after their first goal.

“We didn’t really expect to win but the thing was that we looked terrified when we came out, I think the occasion got to the players.

“I’ve been to away games for nearly 20 years – so we’re pretty used to getting beat! But it was a different atmosphere last night, everybody was very, very subdued. There was one point where the fans tried to get the singing going again and it just wasn’t happening, people were leaving the stadium early as well.”

Robert, who watched the match in a Munich bar felt similarly.

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He said: "The atmosphere was good until the game started!

“They never turned up, it was shocking.

“Those guys are better than that, but this was a free hit. It didn’t matter what the result was in this one, anything was a bonus."

The result may have been expected, but the margin of defeat has put Scotland in a tricky situation.

Steve Clarke's side will almost certainly need at least four points against Switzerland and Hungary, and the goal difference hit on Friday means the win in that calculation would need to be by a couple of goals.

John, who watched the game from the stadium and is on the way to Cologne when the Herald speaks to him is not confident.

(Image: Newsquest)

He said: "We’ve got a -4 goal difference, we probably need four points minimum to get out of the group and after last night’s performance you don’t see that coming."

However, Stephen, is more confident.

He says: "I’d like to see us push a bit further up the park, I think these are two games we can get something out of.

“I don’t think we should fear Switzerland or Hungary, Germany are just a different class. I think we need to go out with the belief that we’re good enough to be here, we’ve got very good players who play in some of the best leagues in the world.”