KAI Havertz last night sent a chilling message to Germany’s rivals for the Henri Delaunay trophy when he stated the 5-1 win over Scotland in the Euro 2024 opener in the Allianz Arena on Friday night was “just the start”.
Havertz and his team mates blew Andy Robertson and his countrymen away in the tournament curtain raiser in Munich in front of a sell-out crowd of 75,000 on Friday night.
However, the Arsenal forward, who converted a penalty in added-on time at the end of the first-half to put Julian Nagelsmann’s charges three ahead, thinks the hosts can improve even further in the coming weeks.
His declaration of intent should give Scotland a glimmer of hope they can reach the last 16 because Germany still have to play Group A rivals Switzerland and Hungary.
READ MORE: Callum McGregor reveals Scotland squad's reaction to Ryan Porteous red
“I hope there is more to come,” he said. “Obviously when you win 5-1 it is a statement. But it is just the start and you can see how much quality there is in the team, how many good players that we have.
“Although Scotland were a very good team with a great coach, the opponents are going to get tougher. It was actually a tough match. But as you go further and further into a tournament, the matches get harder and harder. We keep on going, train good, sleep good. And play with confidence.
“We had a lot of energy on the pitch, it was a great feeling with all the fans and the atmosphere. At the moment the energy is very good after such a great win. Energy is good, but in the end energy leaves very quickly after a bad result in the quarter finals.”
READ MORE: Celtic man says Scotland will use criticism after Rangers great's flak
Havertz added: “So we have to see what happens in the next few weeks but I think this squad is very good, this squad has very talented players but also we are in a good ‘construction’ in a good ‘connection’.
“But it’s easy to talk positively after such a win. There was great energy but it’s not about energy it’s about getting three points. This is very important. In the last few years there has been good energy but we remember the bad results.
“We remember that so don’t be too happy, don’t celebrate too much - we must stay focused. It is not good enough just to have good feelings. There is no sense behind good feelings, if you go and lose the quarter final. We just need to win.”
(Image: PA)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here