The most awaited international tournament of this summer, the UEFA EURO 2024, kicked off last night with a match between Germany and Scotland. The hosts, who have two Barcelona players – Ilkay Gundogan and Marc Andre Ter Stegen – in their ranks, came out victorious in this match with a 5-1 scoreline.
Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Niclas Fullkrug, and Emre Can were the scorers for Germany, while Antonio Rudiger scored an own goal to give the single goal to Scotland.
Despite their dominance on the pitch, there was a moment of great concern for the Germans in this match as the Barcelona player and the German captain, Ilkay Gundogan, received a harsh tackle from one of the Scottish players, Porteus, in the 44th-minute, which could have had a long-term impact on the veteran midfielder.
The Germans won a penalty due to that challenge and the aggressor, Porteus, also received a red card in the 44th minute.
However, as SPORT has reported, the German midfielder spoke to the media after the match and ensured that he was fine and there was no enduring damage suffered from the tackle. In this regard, the Barcelona star said: “Everything is fine with the ankle, nothing serious. Just a hard knock.”
Thus, fortunately, the harsh tackle did not end up impacting the midfielder too much. Furthermore, Gundogan also shared his comfort at being able to play among the fans of his country, and felt the support of the fans in this opening match as he said: “The crowd has conveyed their euphoria to us, we needed that.”
With this match, Germany have had an ideal start to their EURO campaign. They will now return to action in the match against Hungary on 19th June, and then against Switzerland on 23rd to wrap up their group stage.
