England brought Scotland crashing back down to earth with a comfortable 3-1 victory in a friendly at Hampden Park with Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane on target on Tuesday.

After five successive Euro 2024 qualifying wins there was an euphoric atmosphere amongst the Tartan Army who sensed an opportunity for a first home win against England since 1985.

But once Foden turned in Kyle Walker’s stray shot in the 32nd minute and then Real Madrid’s Bellingham punished an Andy Robertson error three minutes later the party went flat. An own goal by substitute Harry Maguire in the 67th minute raised the decibel level again before captain Kane ended Scotland’s hopes with a typically clinical finish.

The 116th edition of international football’s oldest fixture was dubbed the Heritage Match to mark the 150th anniversary of the first meeting between the old rivals. It was not a happy night for the Scots though as England claimed a 49th victory that could have been a lot more emphatic had they taken all their chances.

Bellingham was simply magnificent as he continued his dream start to the season with Real Madrid and he set up an early chance for Walker who fired narrowly wide of the far post.

Bellingham was involved again in England’s opener, threading a pass to Marcus Rashford who teed up Walker for a shot which was going well wide but was diverted in by the alert Foden.

Scotland self-destructed soon after when they failed to clear their lines and Robertson played the ball straight to Bellingham who rifled a shot past Angus Gunn.

Maguire was given a run-out in the second half but the Manchester United player inadvertently handed Scotland a lifeline by clumsily prodding in Robertson’s low cross. Bellingham then rounded off a great display with a slide-rule pass to Kane who finished with his trademark precision.

Back on track

Germany beat France 2-1 in their international friendly to snap a three-game losing streak and regain some confidence following a bad run which led to the sacking of coach Hansi Flick on Sunday.

Goals from Thomas Mueller and Leroy Sane at the start and end gave Germany their first win in their last six matches and capped a turbulent few days for the four-time world champions.