Germany v Scotland: Kieran Tierney says Scots aim to prove people wrong again, just as they did in qualifying

Kieran Tierney says Scotland proved the doubters wrong by stunning Spain in qualifying and believes they are capable of upsetting the odds again when they face Germany in Friday night’s Euro 2024 opener.

Scotland, who departed Glasgow yesterday for the finals, kick-off the tournament against the hosts with no-one giving Steve Clarke’s side a chance of downing Deutschland in their own backyard.

But star-studded Spain and a Norway side featuring Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland both suffered shocks at the hands of the Scots in qualifying, with incredible results in Glasgow and in Oslo, respectively.

So Tierney says when Scotland step out in front of a 75,000-strong crowd for the curtain-raiser in Group A – which also includes Switzerland and Hungary – they will carry that same belief that got them through qualifying into their toughest test yet under Clarke.

The Arsenal defender said: “When the draw [for the qualifying campaign] was made, a lot of people wrote us off but I don’t think the Scotland fans wrote us off and I don’t think anybody in our changing room doubted for a second we could go on and do it - so we just need to go and do that again.

“We know how good the teams are that we are up against, and how experienced they are in tournaments like this as well.

“Germany, being the hosts, have got a great team. I know Switzerland as well through [Arsenal team-mate] Granit Xhaka so I know how good they are – but I also know how good we are as well with the results we had in this campaign.

“In camp, we are doing what we did that got us here in the first place and that is the best way to go about it.”

It will be a journey from Muirhouse to Munich for the defender, having gone from his humble beginnings in North