Scotland face an undeniably daunting task as they take on hosts Germany in the opening match of Euro 2024.
Around 200,000members of the Tartan Army have descended on Munich for the tournament curtain-raiser, but the Scots will still be massive underdogs against the three-time European champions?
Or will they? We've unearthed a stat which might just be a good omen for Steve Clarke's side as they begin their Euro 2024 campaign.
The stat that makes Scotland favourites against Germany
Germany becomes the seventh sole host nation since the addition of a group stage to the Euros in 1984 (in 2000, the tournament was co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, followed by Austria and Switzerland in 2008; Poland and Ukraine in 2012; and the pan-European format for Euro 2020 which saw 11 countries stage games).
In the previous six such Euros, only twice have the hosts won the tournament curtain-raiser – and on both occasions that was France, who kicked off their victorious 1984 campaign with a 1-0 win over Denmark and began Euro 2016, where they lost to Portugal in the final, by beating Romania 2-1.
At Euro 1988, hosts West Germany drew the opener against Italy 1-1; in 1992, Sweden drew 1-1 with France; and four years later, England were held to the same scoreline by Switzerland.
And in 2004, the hosts didn't even pick up a point in the first match: Portugal lost 2-1 to Greece, who famously upset them again in the final.
Scotland have been here before
This won't be Scotland's first experience of raising the curtain at a major tournament.
At the 1998 World Cup – their last finals overseas, having played all three of their Euro 2020 fixtures in the UK – the Scots faced holders Brazil in the opener, drawing level through a John Collins penalty after going behind early on, only to end up losing 2-1 via Thomas Boyd's second-half own goal.
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