Germany announced to the world that they are well and truly contenders to go all the way in the 2024 European Championship, after beating a beleaguered Scotland side 5-1 in the curtain-raiser of the tournament.
The Germans looked up for it from the first minute and their pressure never let up.
It took them just 10 minutes to open the scoring through a tidy finish from Florian Wirtz, which Angus Gunn may feel he should have done better with.
Less than 10 minutes later, Julian Nagelsmann’s side had doubled their lead with an electric finish from Jamal Musiala at his home ground.
As the interval approached, Germany were awarded a penalty, after Ryan Porteous launched a mistimed challenge into to lower leg of Germany's captain Ilkay Gundogan. Porteous received a red card for his troubles.
Kai Havertz stepped up and coolly dispatched the spot kick to send his side 3-0 up at the break, as well as being a man up.
The second half saw Germany control possession, while Scotland attempted to stem the flow of goals.
They managed this for the first 25 minutes of the second half until Niclas Fullkrug released a thunderbolt into the top corner.
The Tartan Army pulled one back through a bizarre own goal from Antonio Rudiger, which gave the Scottish fans something to cheer about.
But the celebrations did not last long, as Emre Can put the icing on the cake with a lovely finish just before the full-time whistle.
So, Germany got their Euro 2024 campaign off to a terrific start, but what did we learn from it?
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Germany silenced the doubters
The Germans have had a lot of criticism thrown their way in recent years, mainly because of their performances at major tournaments.
Their last European Championship campaign saw them knocked out by England; their last two forays into the World Cup have come to shock endings at the group stage.
With Germany being the host nation for this tournament and not having to go through the qualification process, they have not played any competitive football since the previous World Cup.
In that time, they have played a lot of friendlies and there have been a lot of questionable results in said friendlies.
Even recently they have failed to impress against Ukraine and Greece.
It left many thinking that they would not be ready for the tournament, well they dispelled any fears in their win against Steve Clarke’s team.
They looked relentless, organised, and graceful. The Scots simply could not live with them.
You get the impression this was not just a one-off performance, but rather a sign of things to come.
If Germany can maintain this level throughout the competition, they are going to be a major problem for any nation.
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Scotland must bounce back
There is no sugarcoating it, the Scots were terrible on the night. Even when they had 11 men on the pitch, they never looked like troubling their opponents.
While the performance was abject and void of life, it was not all doom and gloom for Clarke’s team.
Throughout the build-up to the competition, Clarke has been adamant that he and his team are targeting four points from the group stage.
This is still achievable, but they really must dust themselves off, and leave this game in the past.
They cannot afford to let this be the game that defines their tournament, instead, they must see it as motivation to improve.
The Tartan Army play Switzerland in just a few days, and they must see that as a chance to get back on track.
Should they lose the game against the Swiss, it will be very hard for them to reach their goal of the last 16.
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Jamal Musiala dazzles on the world stage
Jamal Musiala’s talent is no secret, but tonight he shone on debatably the biggest stage he has played on yet.
There is no doubt that Anthony Ralston will be waking up in cold sweats for weeks to come, given the terror Musiala caused him throughout the game.
Once he had the ball, no one in blue could get it off him. At times it felt as though the ball was glued to his foot.
Unsurprisingly, Musiala completed the most dribbles in the match and only seemed to get better as the game went on.
To add to all this, his goal was an unsavable piledriver into the roof of the net, that no keeper would have been able to save.
There had been doubts coming into the tournament about Musiala and Wirtz being the starting wingers for Germany, given their tender age.
But tonight, they both showed why they command a place in the first team, and Musiala was especially excellent and was clearly the player of the match.
Should the Bayern Munich youngster keep delivering performances like this, he and Germany are going to be a real problem in this tournament.
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The Scotland fans were incredible
There are not many positives to pick out from this Scottish performance. But it would be wrong to not praise the Tartan Army in the stands.
The atmosphere in Munich in the days leading up to the game has been tremendous and has been mainly cultivated by those of a Scottish persuasion.
Despite their side not showing up for the game, the fans never stopped singing.
Even as the Germans were hunting their fifth goal, 'Flower of Scotland' was still being belted out by the Scots.
The German team did their round after the game applauding their own fans, and when they reached the Scottish section, they were met with thunderous applause, as if to say: “Fair play, you lot are a great side.”
There is an old saying that goes “No Scotland, No Party.”
That could not have been truer in Munich as, for the most part, those Bonnie Scots were the main source of noise and atmosphere, even when their side were getting battered.
