Scotland put up a commendable battle against Germany in their Euro qualifier at Hampden Park but the 3-2 defeat leaves them battling for a play-off spot at best.
Gordon Strachan’s side went into the interval level after coming from behind twice with a Mats Hummels own goal and James McArthur strike cancelling out a Thomas Muller double.
But Ilkay Gundogan’s 54th-minute strike proved to be the winner for the world champions. And with two Group D fixtures left for the Scots – second-place Poland and home and minnows Gibraltar away – they remain in fourth place, four points behind Republic of Ireland and six behind Poland.
– #360business: Soccerex – Connecting the footballing world
– Guardiola: Champions League will determine Bayern legacy
– #360LIVE: Follow live football scores all around the world
It means Scotland cannot finish in the top two automatic qualifying places.
Amid the usual pre-match preamble, Sir Alex Ferguson greeted the players to mark the 30th anniversary of the passing of Jock Stein, accompanied by the legendary boss’ son, George Stein.
Germany had shown in their home 3-1 win over Poland on Friday that they were getting back to their best and they looked comfortable in the early stages and in control when Muller, who scored twice in the 2-1 win over the Scots a year ago in the section opener, made his mark again, albeit with some fortune.
After defender Can was penalised for holding Mulgrew at the edge of the box on the left-hand side – it may well have been inside – Maloney fired in the free-kick. An unusually hapless Neuer could only push the ball on to the chest of Hummels and into the net.
Hampden came alive for the first time but it was soon deflated again when Marshall could only parry Can’s angled shot out to Muller whose header hit the post and went in as Mulgrew tried to clear.
Germany’s World Cup final hero Mario Gotze had the ball in the Scotland net in the 39th minute but was ruled offside, to much Tartan relief which turned to joy two minutes from the interval when McArthur guided a shot from 16 yards high past Neuer, after a corner had been cleared to his feet.
Five minutes after the restart Gotze had the ball in the net again, this time by getting his head to a cross from skipper Bastian Schweinsteiger, but again the flag was up.
However, the third German goal was only four minutes away and it came when the unmarked Gundogan steered Muller’s cut-back in off the post from 12 yards.
Maloney was replaced by Anya on the hour-mark, moments before Marshall had to parry a powerful Schweinsteiger drive away with Martin completing the clearance.
Poland ruthless, Northern Ireland move closer
Poland moved a step closer to qualifying for Euro 2016 with a crushing 8-1 victory over Group D opponents Gibraltar in Warsaw.
Kamil Grosicki netted an early brace to start the rout and it then became the Robert Lewandowski show as the Bayern Munich striker scored twice in just 10 minutes.
The Poles added two more early in the second half, Arkadiusz Milik making it five with a neat finish before Jakub Blaszczykowski’s spotkick.
Milik added his second of the game with a left-footed volley, and Bartosz Kapustka got in on the act with their eighth goal after 74 minutes.
But Gibraltar had the final word, with Jake Gosling on target in the 87th minute.
Elsewhere in Group D, Jonathan Walters stabbed home his seventh and arguably most important goal for his country to seal a 1-0 win over Georgia and give the Republic of Ireland a good chance of a play-off spot.
The win, coupled with Scotland’s defeat by Germany, leaves Martin O’Neill’s men four points clear of their neighbours in the race for third spot but facing tough games against Germany and Poland. Kyle Lafferty saved a point for Northern Ireland against Hungary in Group F.
Hungary had led through Richard Guzmics but Northern Ireland will qualify if they win either of their last two matches against Greece and Finland.
The Greeks drew 0-0 in Romania last night, while Joel Pohjanpalo scored the only goal as Finland won 1-0 against the Faroe Islands.
In Group I, Miguel Veloso snatched a last-minute winner for Portugal in Albania as they moved to the brink of qualification
The defender headed in from 12 yards in injury-time to keep Portugal top of Group I with a 1-0 win.
They lead the table by three points ahead of Denmark as Fernando Santos’ men closed in on a place in France next year.
The Danes, meanwhile, were held to a shock 0-0 draw by Armenia which means they still have work to do if they want to seal the second automatic spot ahead of the Albanians.
