Muller brace sinks brave Scotland

On the same night a Glaswegian gave Scotland’s Euro 2016 Group D play-off rivals a boost in Tbilisi, how Gordon Strachan could have done with Aiden McGeady’s wizardry against World champions Germany.

Scotland arrived full of vigour on the back of six games unbeaten but, for all the noise created by their 5,500 fans perched high up in the corner of the wondrous venue belonging to Borussia Dortmund and the equaliser pocketed in the second half, they never looked capable of producing a shock.

Strachan deployed Steven Naismith into a lone striker’s role on the opening day of the campaign and, while that may prove effective for Everton where McGeady supplies the support, neither Barry Bannon nor Ikechi Anya possessed the same creativity of Ireland’s matchwinner in Georgia.