Scotland reach men's final as women take curling bronze

Bruce Mouat's Scotland rink is one match away from a fifth European title

2024 European Curling Championships

Venue: Lohja, Finland Date: 16-23 November

Coverage: Watch selected matches on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app

Scotland will return from the European Championships in Finland with two sets of medals after the women's rink beat Italy to bronze.

The men meet Germany in Saturday's men's final and will be strong favourites to defend their title.

The gold medal match (13:00 GMT) will be shown live on BBC iPlayer plus the BBC Sport website and app.

Led by skip Rebecca Morrison, the Scots moved into a 6-1 lead against Italy after taking three in the seventh end, holding out for a comfortable 6-4 victory.

It caps a successful week for Morrison, Jen Dodds, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson, who finished third in the round-robin and lost a tight semi-final against Sweden.

“We felt really in control from the start of the game as we had a great handle of the ice from the first end,” said Jackson, who plays lead and calls the shots for the team.

“We knew if we kept sticking to our processes and piling the pressure on the Italians that was all that we could do."

The Scottish men have enjoyed a mostly smooth passage in Lohja but had to recover from a late wobble in their semi-final against Switzerland.

Bruce Mouat's rink led 8-5 going into the tenth end but an uncharacteristic lapse from the skip allowed the Swiss to level.

However, the Scots recovered to prevail 10-8 after the extra end.

Germany, who lost 12-5 to Scotland during the round-robin on Wednesday, needed just eight ends to beat Norway 8-2.

Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, who lost just once in the round-robin, are aiming to extend an extraordinary sequence in which they have won the past four European Championships in which they have played.

"It's actually a bit surreal, thinking back to when I was a young kid watching the Europeans and now we’re in our fifth time at this event and our fifth final," said Mouat.

"We're really looking forward to getting on the ice again and giving it all we've got."

Sweden take on defending champions Switzerland in the women's final.