Jamal Musiala has warned Scotland they should be worried about the threat Germany will pose them in Friday's Euro 2024 opener in Munich.

A youth player at Southampton and Chelsea before joining Bayern Munich in 2019, the 21-year-old briefly crossed paths with Billy Gilmour at Stamford Bridge following the Scot's move from Rangers.

Although Musiala has due respect for the problems Gilmour and his team-mates could cause the tournament hosts at the Allianz Arena, he insists Scotland have much more to fear.



‘We can cause problems for any opponent,' said the German attacking midfielder, who is tipped to be one of the stars of the championships.

‘It's important that we focus on playing well ourselves, then Scotland will be more worried about us than we are about them.

‘Billy is a few years older than me but I watched a lot of his games at Chelsea. You could see his quality right from the start. He's very secure on the ball and he's made the breakthrough now. He's a really good player for Scotland. But our coach will look to find rhythm with our starting 11 and we have the ability to change things up.'




Jamal Musiala insists Scotland should be worrying about facing Germany on Friday





Germany's Wunderkinds Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz aim to cause Scotland problems





Scotland's very own Wunderkind Billy Gilmour believes his side can cause an upset

Playing in behind Kai Havertz, the twin threat posed by the running and 유로247 dribbling power of Musiala and fellow 21-year-old Florian Wirtz has revived Germany since manager Julian Nagelsmann took charge late last year.

However, Scotland midfielder Gilmour believes Steve Clarke's side can spoil the hosts' Euro party by claiming a historic win.

The Brighton midfielder marked his 23rd birthday with a cake at the squad's luxury hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Tuesday. And the celebrations will intensify if the Scots win their opening game at a major tournament for only the third time in 12 attempts.

While ex-German international Robert Huth has tipped Steve Clarke's side to be ‘mega defensive', Gilmour insists the aim is to win all three points rather than park the bus and play for a draw.

‘We go into every game trying to win,' he said. ‘We've already tried and done stuff in training where we think we can break them down.

‘We have good players and we've been working hard all week on the training pitch to go and get a win. Everyone outside Scotland thinks it's a Germany win. We know ourselves that we're a good team and hard to beat when it comes to competitive games. We want to show that.

‘We'll give it our best go. We have a good enough team to do that.'

Clarke has urged his team to block out the noise surrounding a lengthy opening ceremony likely to be watched by millions. The target is four points from three games against Germany, Switzerland and Hungary, with the Scots hoping to make history by advancing from a group stage for the first time.

‘(We'll) take it game by game but we want to get out of the group,' added Gilmour. ‘That is first and foremost. Of course Germany is going to be a difficult game but we back ourselves.'

Asked if Scotland can claim a point or even more on the opening night, the midfielder preached the need for self belief.

‘I think we can. When you look around our squad, we have great players. Everyone doubts us sometimes: "Typical Scotland", and we need to get out of that kind of routine.'

Confidence has nonetheless been dented by a raft of injuries to Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson, Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak on top of a run of just two wins from the last nine games. Seven of those were friendlies, however, and Clarke's team have won 15 of their last 21 competitive internationals.

‘Maybe (in friendlies) some people at the back of their mind are thinking about injuries with the Euros around the corner, so you don't want to fly into tackles and be silly,' reasoned Gilmour.

‘When it comes to competitive games, our record has been very good. We beat Spain and Norway away, that was incredible, Kenny McLean's goal and all that. We fight to the very last.'

Meanwhile, Germany and Bayern midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic will miss Euro 2024 with an illness, with coach Nagelsmann calling up Emre Can as his replacement.

‘He was instantly excited and said he was ready to join the team,' said the manager. ‘He can handle the pressure.'


Scotland Football