Germany squeeze past Scotland in Euro 2016 qualifier

In a group with the Republic of Ireland, Poland, Georgia and Gibraltar, Germany will be clear favorites to progress to the 2016 European Championships in France. Scotland came with optimism of taking a positive result back home, but Joachim Löw's side got rid of the hangover from Wednesday's defeat to Argentina.

Thomas Müller put the world champions into the driving seat after 18 minutes. A cross from Sebastian Rudy on the right-flank found the Bayern man at the back-post where he managed to loop his header over David Marshall.

Scotland's rigid 4-1-4-1 system closed the spaces on the pitch for Germany to operate in. When the DFB-team had the ball, though, the Scots were aggressive and this fuelled their impressive start to the second half where they would pick up their just rewards for desire and spirit.

In the 66th minute, Scotland leveled to the delight of their 10,000-strong support in Dortmund. The Dark Blues had the upper-hand at this point in the game and Ikechi Anya latched on to Steven Fletcher's pass before tucking the ball past Manuel Neuer.

Just a matter of a few minutes later, Germany were back on top. Thomas Müller was in the right place at the right time to blast home from close range after Scotland failed to deal with a corner-kick. It would turn out to be the winner, as Germany went on to bag the three points on the opening matchday.