‘A very good axis’: City’s treble-winner singles out United ace for praise ahead of Euro 2024 meeting



Tonight, the highly-anticipated Euro 2024 tournament kicks off with Germany and Scotland’s 8pm opener. 

One of the eight Manchester United stars called up for international duty is poised to start in the group-stage clash in the form of Scott McTominay, who is one of Steve Clarke’s most trusted lieutenants in the Scotland camp.

SEVILLE, SPAIN – OCTOBER 12: Scott McTominay of Scotland applauds the fans

A fitness concern kept the midfielder out of his side’s two warm-up friendlies, although he did make the bench for last week’s 4-0 defeat to Belgium. However, Clarke has assured that there are now no injury concerns among the squad as they undergo their final preparations to lock horns with this year’s hosts.

Of course, Germany enter their campaign as one of the major favourites to lift the trophy. Their mix of experience, such as Toni Kroos, Ilkay Gundogan and Antonio Rudiger, combined with emerging prospects like Jamal Musiala, Maximilian Beier and Florian Wirtz, will have plenty of teams left scratching their heads over how to combat such talent.

Gundogan highlights Scotland’s threat

Former Manchester City skipper Gundogan believes Scotland have their own crop of players to watch, too. He said of his opponents (as cited by the Daily Record): “I’m expecting a difficult game against Scotland. I know a lot of their players from the Premier League.

“They have a very good axis to the team, with [Andy] Robertson, McTominay, [and John] McGinn. That’s a very experienced axis who plays at the highest level in the Premier League for very good teams.”

“They can be a tricky team to play against,” Gundogan admitted. “We shouldn’t underestimate them on Friday night. I have lots of respect for them.

“But we also know what we can do, and we have a lot of quality on our side. If we can reach our potential, I’m confident that we can win tomorrow.”