Scott McTominay’s goal was cancelled out by Xherdan Shaqiri as Scotland held Switzerland to a 1-1 draw in Group A at UEFA Euro 2024.
Fabian Schar put Scotland ahead in the 13th minute after he diverted Scott McTominay’s shot into his own net, but UEFA eventually awarded the goal to McTominay instead.
Xherdan Shaqiri however rescued Switzerland a point with a clinical 26th minute strike from Anthony Ralston’s sloppy pass.
Germany remained top of Group A following a 2-0 win over Hungary through Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan’s goals.
Scotland now moved up to third in the group and next face a must-win game against Hungary on Sunday 20 June at 9pm CEST (8pm UK Time), whilst Germany face Switzerland at the same time for the right to top Group A.
Across in Group B, Klaus Gjasula rescued a 2-2 draw for Albania against Croatia with his injury-time strike, after Andrej Kramaric’s goal and Gjasula’s own-goal put the Croatians in front from behind following Qazim Laci’s opening goal for the Albanians.
In desperate need of victory to kick-start their Euros after an abysmal tournament-opening loss to Germany, Scotland made a strong start but soon had to weather Switzerland’s press.
Their early resilience paid off in the 13th minute as a counter-attack saw John McGinn tee up Andrew Robertson, who pulled back for McTominay to rifle in albeit via deflection of Schar’s right foot which ultimately was declared an own-goal by Schar.
UEFA soon afterwards awarded the goal to McTominay due to his shot having been on target.
Two minutes later, Switzerland almost drew level from a corner but Ricardo Rodriguez volleyed wide of the bottom-right corner.
Scotland however proved their own undoing in the 26th minute as Ralston played a sloppy backpass, which Shaqiri quickly intercepted and curled into the near-left corner to restore parity for Switzerland.
That goal motivated Switzerland who almost got their second goal seven minutes later if not for Dan Ndoye smashing in from an offside position, having initially won the set-piece with a shot which Angus Gunn flapped behind.
Neither team eventually managed to find a second goal before half-time as Scotland’s Che Adams saw a shot saved by Yann Sommer in the 41st minute.
Switzerland however seized the initiative early in the second half but had to wait until the 56th minute to create an opportunity, which Ruben Vargas struck low into Gunn’s arms.
Ndoye then rifled wide two minutes later but in the process, he collided with Scotland’s Kieran Tierney who had to be stretchered off with a hamstring injury.
Vargas saw a further shot go wide as Switzerland continued to press, yet Scotland went closest from a 67th minute free-kick by Robertson, which fell for Grant Hanley whose effort hit the left post and ricocheted away from goal.
Ndoye saw a 78th minute shot for Switzerland fly over the bar but the Swiss looked to had won it four minutes later, as substitute – Breel Embolo broke forward onto a through ball and chipped in over Gunn’s head yet his goal was swiftly ruled offside.
Scotland eventually clung on for a point which means that they must win their final group game against Hungary, in order to give themselves a chance at progressing as one of four best-placed third-placed finishers.
Switzerland meanwhile must beat Germany if want to top Group A.
Speaking to BBC1 post-match, Robertson was pleased with the Tartan Army’s performance which has given them belief for their final group match against Hungary.
“More like us, much more like us. Aggressive, on the front foot, couldn’t get off to a better start.
“We make a mistake but make no mistake about it, Tony Ralston was unbelievable after that mistake. Second half, he was different class.
“We had our chances but so did they. We were a lot more happy with that performance. We’ll take the draw and we’ve taken it into the last game and that’s all we can ask.
“We need to go again Sunday because that’s a massive game for us now. We can take a lot of positives from tonight but we can also tweak a little thing and improve even more and that’s a good thing.
“We need to get to bed now and recover. Come Sunday we’ll bee good to go with the backing that we’ve got.”
Teams
Scotland – Angus Gunn, Kieran Tierney, Grant Hanley, Jack Hendry, Andrew Robertson, Callum McGregor, Billy Gilmour (McLean 79′), Anthony Ralston, Scott McTominay, John McGinn (Christie 90′), Che Adams (Shankland (90+1′)
Substitutes: Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie, Zander Clark, Tommy Conway, Liam Cooper, James Forrest, Ryan Jack, Liam Kelly, Robbie McCrorie, Scott McKenna, Kenny McLean, Lewis Morgan, Lawrence Shankland, Greg Taylor
Switzerland – Yann Sommer, Ricardo Rodriguez, Manuel Akjani, Fabian Schar, Michel Aebischer, Granit Xhaka, Remo Freuler (Sierro 75′), Silvan Widmer (Stergiou 86′), Ruben Vargas (Rieder 75′), Xherdan Shaqiri (Embolo 60′), Dan Ndoye (Amdouni 86′)
Substitutes: Zeki Amdouni, Kwadwo Duah, Nico Elvedi, Breel Embolo, Ardon Jashari, Gregor Kobel, Yvon Mvogo, Noah Okafor, Fabian Rieder, Vincent Sierro, Renato Steffen, Leonidas Stergiou, Cedric Zesiger
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