So what do Scotland need to do tonight to avoid another defeat and an early exit from the Euros?

My colleague Scott Mullen has been taking a deeper dive into the issues facing Steve Clarke's side head of the Switzerland tie to see what are the main areas of concern.

Read his countdown of Scotland's conundrums here.

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And if you want to watch that Euro '96 encounter with the Swiss - or for those of us old enough to experience it first time round, relive the trauma - you can watch highlights below or on the BBC iPlayer.

Last time Scotland faced Switzerland at a European Championship, it was in 1996 - and a crucial group decider at Villa Park.

Scotland secured a 1-0 win that night courtesy of an Ally McCoist wonder strike - but it would prove to be in vain after England dropped a goal to Holland in their 4-1 win at Wembley, condemning Craig Brown's side to another goal-difference tournament exit.

And as former Scotland midfielder Stuart McCall recalled, it was a full-on game of football for both sides.

"That was a great game," he told the Sacked In The Morning podcast.

"It was end to end because Switzerland needed to win. Coisty had two sitters. And then he scores one from 25 yards. [England] get to 3-0 and you're up the park because we need a goal and then we hear it's 4-0 and you're back.

"I went over to take a throw-in, and the guy's face was tartan all over. He went, 'Holland have scored, we need another goal.'

"Gordon Strachan went round to every player saying how proud he was of the effort and the game, because it was a wonderful game and people said, 'oh England let you down'. No, I would expect England to go beat [them] 4-1 anyway. So we're nothing to do with England, we needed another goal and again it was another glorious failure."

Right, shall we get in the mood for tonight with a bit of nostalgia? Time for a look back to the last time Scotland faced Switzerland at the Euros...

Good to see the Scotland fans doing their bit while out in Germany.

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More from former Scotland midfield maestro John Collins, who remains upbeat about Scotland’s prospects going into tonight’s crucial Group A tie.

And while Switzerland racked up a comfortable 3-1 win over Hungary at the weekend, Collins believes Scotland should not be overwhelmed by facing them tonight.

“It's a big test but there’s not one Swiss player who would get in the German team,” he told Good Morning Scotland.

“Switzerland are good but they’re not great. They’ve got Granit Xhaka who was at Arsenal. He’s a good football player, a lot of the play goes through him. So from a tactical point of view I’d like to see McTominay or McGinn get right tight to Xhaka.

“Switzerland are a decent team but they’re not a great team, and if we play as well as we did in some of the qualifying games we can get a result. But we’ll have to play a lot, lot better than we did in the first game.”

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Former Scotland midfielder John Collins believes Steve Clarke’s side need to show "the shackles are off" when they face Switzerland tonight.

Collins was a key part of the Scotland side which played at the 1998 World Cup in France which, like Clarke’s side, lost the opening game of the tournament against the hosts.

“I think we were very cautious and subdued in the first game,” he told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland.

“Now we’ve just got to go for it, the shackles are off, it’s all or nothing. We’ve got to try and win the game, and if we get a draw out of it then we go to the last game and we can still qualify. So I think the mindset will be ‘let’s go for it’.”

However, in the wake of Ryan Porteous's red card against Germany - which will rule the Watford stopper out of Scotland's remaining group games - Collins urged the players to watch their step when pressing their opponents.

“We have to be more aggressive - but we have to be careful with that word as well. In modern day football, rules have changed, mistimed tackles are a red card and we don’t what that. We want 11 players on the pitch.

“It’s got to be controlled aggression.”

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But will it be plain sailing for Scotland against Switzerland?

Scott Mullen
BBC Scotland in Cologne

Love this!

Image source, Scott Mullen

Andrew Southwick
BBC Scotland in Cologne

See if one more person messages me with "I'm just outside the train station in a blue top"...

So what's the view from the ground like? Well, going by the state of Cologne centre, it's decidedly tartan tinged right now...

Scotland's players have 'drawn a line' under the Germany defeat and are ready to reward the Tartan Army for their support, insists skipper Andy Robertson.

The Liverpool defender says the players have finished reflecting on the aftermath of their opening loss in Munich - and have focused on how they can improve.

"Friday night was hugely disappointing - we took our time to get over that, whatever emotions we were feeling," he told BBC Sport.

"We had a meeting on what we could have done differently - which was pretty much everything - and then we drew a line under it and thought 'OK, let's move forward from it'.

"I just said if you're disappointed at your own performance, at the team performance, at whatever happened, then it's behind us now and we have to move forward.

"It's just about giving belief to the lads. We're a good team when we want to be but we need to show it on the biggest stage. We didn't do that on Friday but we've got another chance.

"We've sitll got two games left in this group and if we can get positive results from both of them then it gives us the best chance to achieve what we've come over here to achieve."

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Time for a bit more from the Scotland camp now. What has the skipper had to say for himself?

So the consensus seems to be Billy Gilmour in midfield is crucial to success tonight. But who would you pick in your starting line-up?

You can have a crack at our Euro 2024 team selector here.

Meanwhile former Swiss international Bruno Berner also believes Murat Yakin will expect a tougher test tonight than Friday may have suggested..

“We expect energy from Scotland,” he told BBC Sport. “We expect changes, with Billy Gilmour coming in, we expect him to play from the start. What a talent he is.

“So for us it’s really to get back into that next game as we started against Hungary. The expectation has to be that Scotland will come out and try to hurt us so I think Switzerland will be ready for tonight.”

Switzerland’s track record of qualification has been much more impressive than Scotland’s of late, having not missed a tournament since failing to qualify for Euro 2012 – which the former Leicester defender says as uppted the pressure on Yakin's side.

“There were a lot of questions about where we are as a team,” Berner admits. “When we qualified just before before Christmas, the reaction was like it wasn't good enough.

"We're Switzerland, we qualified for a major tournament again, we should be very, very happy.

"Many people were proven wrong last Saturday against Hungary, luckily, and we really showed a very good performance.”

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Switzerland will not go into tonight's game underestimating their opponents, insists Swiss journalist Christian Finkbeiner.

Murat Yakin's side go into the group game with Scotland on the back of a 3-1 win over Hungary, while Scotland are still smarting from their Munich monstering.

But Finkbeiner, who writes for Swiss newspaper Blick, thinks the team will expect a tougher test against the Scots.

"Switzerland know Scotland will show they can play better than they did against Germany," he told Radio Scotland.

"They know Scotland have quality with the players they have in the English Premier League. I know they won’t underestimate Scotland.

"We didn’t know before the tournament how strong the [Swiss] team would be. There were a lot of doubts because qualifying wasn’t so good

"They had problems up front because Embolo was recovering from injury, but the win against Hungary gave us more optimism for the whole tournament.

"Switzerland know the fans believe the team can go further in the tournament."

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We'll have more from the Scotland camp in a bit, but what of our opponents tonight? How do they feel going into the game after their opening match success? Time for some Swiss perspectives...

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Among the Tartan Army footsoldiers out in Cologne for tonight's game is a very familiar face - Scotland women's star Erin Cuthbert.

And the Chelsea midfielder has backed her men's national team counterparts to come good against Switzerland if Billy Gilmour is restored to the line-up.

"I watched the game against Finland and Billy Gilmour was the best player on the parkm," she told Radio 5 Live.

"We're going to need to keep a little bit better possession than we did against Germany, to keep the ball better. McGregor looks a better version of himself when Billy Gilmour's next to him.

"The beauty of it is there's nothing to lose and everything to gain. As a player you just want the next game, this game's today and all you want is to put things right and get the fans back on your side. I think they're going to come out the box flying tonight."

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We also want to hear your thoughts and score predictions ahead of tonight's game.

Do you think Scotland can turn things around against the Swiss? Will Scotland display watch-like precision in Cologne, or are hopes of a win completely cuckoo?

You can get in touch with us here, external

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