Germany vs Scotland

Host nation Germany kicks off Euro 2024 on Friday night as they welcome Scotland to the Allianz Arena in Munich. The Germans will be keen to get off on the right foot, having struggled in recent international tournaments. They will take confidence from the fact that they finished in third place the last time they hosted a tournament, the 2006 World Cup. A similar showing here would be more than welcome for manager Julian Nagelsmann, and the key to their success could be the form of Florian Wirtz, who comes into this on the back of a fantastic campaign with his club Bayer Leverkusen.

Never ones to back down from a challenge, the Scots will be well up for the fight come Friday evening. Steve Clarke’s men did incredibly well to qualify for the tournament in the first place, but they’re not here for a holiday. They do have some class sprinkled across the squad in the form of Andy Robertson, John McGinn and Scott McTominay and are partial to a bit of an upset, having beat Spain 2-0 in qualifying. Expect them to make this a competitive affair in the all-important curtain raiser.

The opening matches at international tournaments tend to be tight affairs, and we don’t think Euro 2024 will be any different. There could be some value in backing Germany to win and under 2.5 goals in the game. One or two of the Scots are prone to a yellow card, and, in keeping the game tight, there’s going to be plenty of niggling fouls. Andy Robertson could find himself up against some tricky customers, so he’s the value bet to pick up a card in this one.

See the table with our top picks below: