Granit Xhaka taken aback by Scotland as Swiss star targets Euro 2024 success

Switzerland star Granit Xhaka admits he couldn’t believe what he was watching after Scotland were demolished by Germany.

The Swiss got their Group A campaign off to the perfect start after thumping Hungary 3-1 in yesterday’s clash in Cologne. The same can’t be said for Steve Clarke’s men, who suffered the heaviest-ever opening-day defeat at a European Championships by crashing to a dismal 5-1 defeat in Munich.

Scotland face Switzerland on Wednesday knowing that they’ll need at least a point to have any hope of progressing into the knockouts. And Bayer Leverkusen Bundesliga-winning hero Xhaka is expecting the Scots to lift their game for the 8pm kick-off.

He said: “We watched the Germany game. We were surprised by the performance of Scotland. We have achieved our first target of three points and now we need to prepare for Wednesday. We know the quality that Scotland have. Big players who play for big teams.

“But we know the first match is always special, especially for Germany in Munich. I hope we’ll see a good game on Wednesday. We deserved our three points today. I’m very proud that we won – we had a very good first half.

“It’s always good to start with confidence against a good opponent but we are not finished yet. Recovery now – and on to the next one on Wednesday.”