Billy Gilmour warns 'typical Scotland' doubters they're on a mission to spoil Germany's launch party

Billy Gilmour has insisted Scotland don’t simply want to survive against Germany in Munich – they’re planning to beat the hosts at their own launch party.

And the Brighton midfielder has revealed boss Steve Clarke has already been hatching a secret tactical masterplan to create an explosive opening night shock here at the Euros. Gilmour was speaking here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen yesterday as Clarke and his players were preparing to make the 90km trip to the Bavarian capital ahead of the hotly anticipated tournament opener.

And when asked if a point from the first Euro 2024 Group A game might be enough to set Scotland on their way towards the knock-out stages of a major tournament for the first time in history the 23-year-old gave a bullish response. He said: “We go into every game trying to win the game. For us we have already tried and done stuff in training where we think we can break them down and go and win the game.

“Of course, we have to take it game by game, but we know we want to come here and get out of the group, that is first and foremost. Yes, Germany is going to be a difficult game but we back ourselves. We have good players and we have been working hard all week on the training pitch to go and get a win.”

Gilmour is raring to pick up where he left off at this tournament three years ago when he was named man of the match against England at Wembley in his first ever international start. And he insists Scotland will not allow themselves to be overawed by their A lister opponents or the sheer scale of the occasion.

He went on: “I think we can. When you look around our squad, we have great players. Everyone doubts us sometimes - ‘typical Scotland’ - and we need to get out of that kind of routine.

“We need to go into games, win them comfortably, be confident and put on good performances. When it comes to competitive games our record has been very good. We beat Spain and Norway away, that was incredible, Kenny McLean’s goal and all that. I think we fight to the very last.

“So we will go there and give it our best go. We have got a good enough team to do that. Everyone outside Scotland thinks it’s going to be a Germany win. We know ourselves that we are a good team and hard to beat when it comes to competitive games and we want to show that.”