Graeme Souness fears for gun shy Scotland and swoons over England as he drops unflinching Euro 2024 truth bombs

Scotland icon Graeme Souness fears Steve Clarke's side will be outgunned at Euro 2024 but believes they can launch a counter-strike and reach the last 16.

But he has lavished praise on England and believes the Auld Enemy are primed and ready to end their 58-year wait to reign supreme at a major tournament. Souness – speaking on William Hill's Three Up Front podcast – aired his palpable concerns about Scotland's options up front. Lyndon Dykes is out and the trio of Che Adams, Lawrence Shankland and Tommy Conway will be tasked with leading the line vs Germany, Switzerland and Hungary.

However, Souness insists he's not waving the white flag on a country he represented with distinction on 54 occasions. The 71-year-old said: "There isn’t a harder opening game than facing the hosts, Germany. This also has to be the best Hungary side I’ve ever seen. I expect Scotland to have a difficult time.

"They can’t beat any team in a goal fest because they don’t have a striker who can score goals at that level, they qualified for the tournament through Scott McTominay’s goals. They’ll have to come up with a way to stay in games and play counter-attacking football. It’s not beyond them to finish second in their group."

But Souness' concerns stop north of the border as he believes England's time is now. Gareth Southgate – maligned by others – is aiming to turn near misses into a glorious summer at Euro 2024. The Liverpool icon sees a team of winners ready to silence their cynics. He added: “I think England are favourites. Germany, Spain and Italy all aren’t as strong as they once were. When it comes to France, England were better than them in the World Cup quarter-final in the second half. They went a goal down and took them on, after which they were the better team. I think the stars have aligned for England this summer.

“Experience in winning tournaments doesn’t matter. If you’re a top player, you go into every game thinking you can win it. These players are winning games every week at club level, they’re winners. They don’t put the England shirt on and feel different because they’ve never won a tournament in it.”