Scotland vs Switzerland LIVE: Euro 2024 team news, line-ups and more ahead of Group A match today

ITV pundits Roy Keane and former Scotland international Graeme Souness had no sympathy and no mercy for Steve Clarke’s side after a brutal Euro 2024 defeat at the hands of Germany.

Keane did not hold back in criticising a lack of tactical discipline, willingness to show fighting spirit and technical ability from Scotland.

“They were second best in every aspect of the game tonight. Physically, tactically, even mentally,” he said. “They showed a little fighting spirit in the second half as you’d expect, but the difference in quality was chalk and cheese. They were out of their depth.

“The goalkeeper [Angus Gunn] lacks international experience and was found out tonight, not quick enough [to get down to save].

“I love watching talented players but my goodness, playing football at this level you’ve got to be aggressive, you’ve got to hit people, but do it in the right way. The penalty was madness but football’s a physical game and they didn’t lay a glove on [Germany].

“When you’re playing football at this level, you’ve got to hit people! Hit them properly, aggressively, in the right way. It’s no good saying after the game, ‘we had a gameplan,’ it’s rubbish! It’s rubbish coming out, you knew it before the game, what’s at stake.

“After, it’s no good saying, ‘we’ll regroup and be angry tomorrow’. You should be angry for a long time. They spoke about creating history, they’re creating history alright, by playing as bad as that and letting their manager and supporters down.”

On the eve of Euro 2024, Scotland captain Andy Robertson asked ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ as he reflected on a record of underperformance at major tournaments and the chance to create history in Germany. By half-time on the opening night in Munich, imaginations were being tested at the Allianz Arena as a rampant host nation tore Scotland apart. Three goals down, reduced to 10 after Ryan Porteous was sent off, the worst that could happen against Germany became the fear of six or seven.

A mere 5-1 defeat remained a humbling night, an evening where Scotland suddenly woke up to the chasm in quality between themselves and their hosts. So much for talking up the chances of making life difficult for Germany and having a plan to frustrate them on the opening night. Manager Steve Clarke admitted Scotland “let ourselves down”. Robertson conceded Scotland “got it all wrong” in their first half performance. “We didn’t show up, we weren’t aggressive enough, and we let good players get on the ball,” the captain said.

From the disappointment of Friday against Germany

Scotland captain Andy Robertson admitted there was “fear” in the team in the opening stages of Friday night’s thumping against Germany.

On what’s been missing from Scotland’s performances since qualifying and how Scotland can get back to that, the Liverpool defender said: “I think we just have to get back to being us. I don’t think we’ve been ourselves, we definitely weren’t ourselves on Friday and we need to realise what got us the results in the past and what we were good at when we went to the pitch because the message off the pitch hasn’t changed, it’s just on the pitch.

“We maybe probably have to get back to doing that, trusting ourselves within the game, trusting each other, whoever’s next to you. And if we do that then we’re a better team for it.

“I think you’ve seen that in abundance and the qualifying campaign. You’ve seen a team that was full of belief and ready to fight for each other and ready to go for every single ball and maybe on Friday we play a wee bit with fear, which we didn’t want.

“But look, it’s easy to talk about it, it’s harder to put in place and it’s not an easy game opening the tournament against the host country, I’ll tell you that.”

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke on how he reacted to the Germany defeat after returning to the team’s camp.

“Kick a couple of backsides, give some cuddles, make the players understand why the Germany result happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“I’ve spoken to one or two players around the squad whose opinion I value. I had a good chat with a few of them.

“I had a little chat with a lot of them on the training pitch this morning. Tried to put one or two things in their head about things they maybe didn’t do on the pitch.”

Scotland failed to deal with Germany midfielder and departing Real Madrid legend Toni Kroos in the Group A opener, and now face another talismanic midfield presence against Switzerland in Granit Xhaka. The former Arsenal captain has been inspired since moving to Bayer Leverkusen, where he won the Bundesliga in his first season, and has been key to Switzerland punching above their weight at previous major international tournaments.

“You sort of forget Switzerland a little bit but they are serial qualifiers,” Steve Clarke said this week. “And pretty much always in the last 16 or the last eight. They know how to do it, they know what to do. They have a really strong spine through the middle of the team and they have pace up front. So let’s try to be like Switzerland.

“I liked Xhaka when he was at Arsenal. Obviously, he went to Leverkusen and he has found a good way of playing in a really good team. He has had a fantastic season and he will come here with 100 per cent confidence. We have to make sure he does not dictate the game in the way we allowed Germany to dictate the game.

“He’s a good player. He is a very good player. We just respect him. We need to get close to all the players further up the pitch because if we don’t get close to the players further up the pitch you end up doing what we did the other night, defending on the edge of the box.”

Brighton midfielder Billy Gilmour could return to the Scotland side tonight after he was controversially left out of the line-up to face Germany on Friday night. Gilmour, 23, is one of the best passers in the Scotland squad and Steve Clarke’s side struggled in possession on the opening night.

The Scotland manager kept his cards close to his chest when discussing team news ahead of the Switzerland game, but said Gilmour may not have made a difference against Germany given the quality of the opposition.

“In a 5-1 game where we were never in the game, is one player going to make that amount of difference?” he said. “It is impossible to answer. It is difficult. You can say what you want and I can say that I don’t think it made a difference. You can say yes it did make a difference and we will never know.

“Maybe by talking about Billy in that context we are just putting too much pressure on him. If he is selected for the next game let him go into it with a clear head for the game.”

Scotland defender Ryan Porteous has been ruled out of the rest of the group stages after his suspension was upgraded to a two-game ban for “serious rough play” following his challenge on Ilkay Gundogan.

The defender gained a repuation for having a hot head during his time at Hibs in Scotland and Clarke said he would learn from the red card after learning his tournament could be over already.

“He hasn’t been sent off for a couple of years, Ryan,” Clarke said. “He’s been great for us since I gave him his chance in Ukraine. He was trying to stop a clear goalscoring opportunity. He definitely went in too hard and we’re all pleased that Gundogan has no lasting damage.

“It is something Ryan will learn, but it was an honest challenge to try to get the ball. I wouldn’t be too hard on him.”

The Scotland boss also said it would be “dangerous” to play for a draw against Switzerland in Cologne, even if it keeps Scotland’s hopes of reaching the last-16 alive ahead of facing Hungary in Stuttgart on Sunday night.

“To go into the game thinking you only need a point is dangerous. We go there to win, to be as positive as we can and we see where that takes us.

“It is more about making sure we perform as well as we can and if we can do that I am pretty confident we can get something from the game.

“I was very impressed with the Swiss. I thought they were excellent, really good in the first half and then controlled the second half well and when they needed a late goal to take some pressure off they managed to do that as well.

“It is a big challenge, a good team, a lot of good players, very strong down the spine of the team, defend well, don’t give too much away and have a lot of pace up front. So we expect a difficult night.”

Steve Clarke urged Scotland to “regroup and go again” ahead of facing Switzerland tonight, with the manager telling the Tartan Army to “keep the faith” following the humiliation in Munich.

“Difficult opponent, I expect a difficult game,” he said of Switzerland in his press conference. “For us, it is to regroup and go again. It’s that simple. It is about doing better, exactly that.

“The players want to go back and play better and I think that is pretty standard when you play so poorly and let yourself down.

“As I said when I spoke to a lot of you on Sunday, it is about doing better, working better into the game.

“We thought we were well prepared for Germany, obviously we weren’t. So this time I think it is better not to say too much and hopefully with our actions on the pitch we will show that we prepared well and a positive result would be lovely.”

There’s been a great deal of talk around Scotland since the embarrassment of Munich – admirable displays of showing up, taking responsibility, being accountable. There have been meetings, discussions, discussions about meetings; post-match analysis, pre-match analysis, another two press conferences. Five days on from the opening humiliation against hosts Germany and Scotland were starting to struggle finding a new way to say they’d failed to show up on the opening night of Euro 2024. Finally, the captain Andy Robertson announced the time for talking was over. “We need action,” he declared.

As a result of their goal difference taking a battering against Germany, there is jeopardy ahead of facing Switzerland tonight. Steve Clarke’s side require four points from their remaining two games of Group A and will be all but out should they lose in Cologne; at the very least, it would require Scotland to beat Hungary in their final fixture of the group by five or six. It’s as simple as that, while the challenge of lifting the spirits of his players has been one of nuance for Clarke. The Scotland manager has been going around his squad “kicking backsides and giving cuddles” as he assesses what is needed ahead of facing a confident Switzerland team fresh off an impressive win over Hungary.