The Scotsman's Alan Pattullo ahead of Germany v Scotland in the Euro 2024 opener

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Alan Vitolo, football writer for the Scotsman, here in the Munich Arena

00:07ahead of one of the biggest games in Scotland's history, certainly in recent history.

00:12Opening Euro 2024 against the hosts, Germany.

00:16It promises to be quite a spectacle. We have the opening ceremony still to come.

00:22We are always a bit, possibly underwhelming, a bit so-so.

00:26I've come to find, in my experience, we shall see what happens here.

00:32But, obviously, the big one will be waiting for us. It's probably 9 o'clock in the evening in Germany.

00:39St. Clark has just announced his team a few minutes ago.

00:42A couple of headlines are grand handling as we start.

00:47I think, possibly, lack of fitness has found him out.

00:50Ryan Portia has kicked the Norwich City defender's place.

00:54In the middle of the field is Will Billy Gilmore.

00:57Again, a surprise. A lot of people were expecting him to line up, again, alongside Callum McGregor.

01:03Although we did have a piece from the Scotsman, my colleague Matthew Elder, suggesting he need to play.

01:09So, a couple of days ago.

01:11If history won St. Clark, I'm sure Billy Gilmore will have a part to play in the next few games.

01:18But, for the time being, we will be starting here.

01:21And, as you can see, the atmosphere is popping up.

01:25There's been a building all day in Munich, and all day yesterday as well.

01:29We travelled down yesterday from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Scotland's base

01:35and have been enjoying the fans in the streets of Munich.

01:42It really does feel extraordinary.

01:44Extraordinary spectacle here.

01:46It's hard to have the words to describe it, in fact.

01:52It's just a huge, huge amount of Scotland fans around town.

01:56200,000 yesterday.

01:58Not all of them here, obviously.

02:00Not all of them have tickets.

02:02Only 10,000, supposedly.

02:04I'm sure there will be a lot more than that inside the stadium.

02:06Stay with us on scotland.com for updates during the game.

02:11My match will be online soon afterwards.

02:14And we'll speak again later, I'm sure.