Gordon Strachan on Scotland's 2-1 loss to Germany: 'I genuinely believed we were going to win'

When Ikechi Anya broke free on goal in the 66th minute and subsequently slotted the ball past Manuel Neuer to pull Scotland level against Germany, it seemed unfathomable.

Here was Scotland, who missed out on the World Cup, 24 minutes away from pulling off a remarkable result at Borrusia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, one of the most intimidating stadiums in Germany, if not Europe.

Unfortunately for Scotland, it took all of four minutes for Die Mannschaft to regain the lead as Thomas Muller scored his second goal of the match in the 70th minute, one that would allow Germany to earn three points from the Euro 2016 qualifier.

"At 1-1, I genuinely believed we were going to win the game," said Scotland manager Gordon Strachan of the match. "I saw players playing with no fear."

Muller's first goal of the fixture came in the 18th minute, and Strachan acknowledged that it took some time for his side to settle into the match.

"The first 20 minutes, it wasn't fear," Strachan explained. "They tried to rush passes. We lost the ball quite a lot and it gave Germany easy possession. The Germans are always going to have more of the ball and probably more chances, that goes without saying. 

"If you could find me somebody who's 6-foot-4, who can head the ball for miles and jump at eight feet, which Muller can, then it's avoidable. I think that most countries in the world do not have somebody to do that. When you're dealing with an exceptional machine like Muller, then you'll have a problem. That's always going to be the difference.

"The second half we played with no fear. They really should be proud of what they did. The longer the game went on, the more of a threat we had. All we need to do is work on the first 20 minutes, get that sorted out then we'll be fine, we'll be good."