Graeme Souness stunned ITV studio to silence with excuse for Scotland's defeat to Germany

Graeme Souness left the ITV studio in silence with his excuse for Scotland losing to Germany.

Scotland were humbled 5-1 in their Euro 2024 opener against Germany in Munich, with Julian Nagelsmann’s men claiming a 3-0 lead at half-time through Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz.

After Ryan Porteous was sent off for fouling Ilkay Gundogan on the stroke of the break, Niclas Fullkrug and Emre Can made it five either side of Scotland’s consolation through an Antonio Rudiger own-goal.

United icon Roy Keane accused Scotland of being "out of their depth" after the game, saying "the difference in quality was chalk and cheese".

"Robertson said Scotland weren't aggressive enough - you have to be aggressive in a game of football," Keane told ITV.

"When you're up against opposition who are much stronger than you, being aggressive is part of being a footballer."

The partisan Souness was more forgiving of Scotland’s performance, however.

The Scot said: “I was going to make the point, Germany is a nation of 83 million people. We’re a nation of 5.2 million.”

Souness comments were followed by a stunned pause in the studio before Keane interjected by sarcastically saying: “That’s a good excuse.”

Souness added: “I’m trying to come up with a positive for our manager.”

Fans were quick to respond to the incident on social media, with one person on X, formally Twitter, saying: “The resignation in Souness’ face at 7 seconds when he realises it’s a lost cause.”

Germany dispatched Scotland 5-1 (Getty)

A second wrote: “So by that reasoning, it’s China v India in the 2026 World Cup final then?”

A third added: “I hate that excuse too.

“I think our philosophy on football is completely antiquated and we don’t develop high-level technical players we have only one true technical player in Gilmour. We’ve had a few bad injuries that drop the level of the team drastically but still disappointed.”

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