England defeated Scotland 3-1 thanks to goals from Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, and Harry Kane after Steve Clarke’s team was thoroughly outplayed by the Auld Enemy at Hampden Park.

With both teams in the fortunate position of knowing it was a matter of when rather than if they qualified for Euro 2024, the 116th edition of the oldest international match in history took place.

Scotland, who had already won all five of their group games, entered Tuesday’s so-called friendly hoping for a memorable win over England and a tie between Georgia and Norway.

They would have qualified for the Euros next summer with that result, but the hosts’ victory in Oslo was made worse by their defeat to Gareth Southgate’s team in Glasgow.In this match, which honored the 150th anniversary of the first encounter between the two countries, England triumphed for the 49th time in this series.

Although Scotland has a strong recent home record, Southgate’s team returned to winning ways following Saturday’s lackluster qualification tie with Ukraine.

Foden, the subject of so much pre-match discussion, quickly adjusted his feet to direct home the opener in the first half, with Bellingham capitalizing on a wretched Andy Robertson pass to rifle home three minutes later.

Although Harry Maguire was cruelly mocked by Scotland fans after his introduction and scored an own goal to raise the roof, the result at halftime did not reflect well on England.

However, the host team’s dreams of a comeback were dashed when the visitors picked up the pace, and excellent Bellingham set up captain Kane to seal the friendly victory.

‘God Save the King’ was greeted by guttural booing in the raucous Hampden Park, while ‘Flower of Scotland’ was performed in a particularly chilling fashion.

Unfortunately, England’s chanting interrupted the already interrupted minute of silence for former Scotland manager Craig Brown.

For this friendly, Southgate made six changes, and his squad dominated the early possession against a Scotland team that lacked quality to go along with their effort.

Foden missed the first good opportunity after a Marcus Rashford cutback, and then Bellingham’s demands for a penalty after a strong Porteous challenge were denied because of offside in the lead-up.

Fresh off scoring his first goal for his country, Kyle Walker struck across the face of the goal, and if it weren’t for Jack Hendry’s save, a remarkable team effort might have resulted in a debut for Harry Kane.

But in the 32nd minute, Scotland’s goal was violated. In response to Bellingham’s throw behind, Rashford deftly touched it wide while under pressure from Walker, whose drive ball was deftly turned in by Foden from six yards.

England received another present three minutes later. After the first cross was stopped, Bellingham backheeled to Foden on the left and sprinted into the box, where Robertson passed straight into the Real Madrid player’s path for him to smash home.

Before halftime, tempers started to fray after Scotland’s penalty requests for a handball against Marc Guehi were denied, and England came dangerously close to scoring a third when Foden’s cross threatened.

At halftime, Maguire came on to replace Guehi, and the Hampden supporters never stopped pestering him in an effort to spook the defender.

In response, the England supporters rallied behind him. Scotland remained combative, with Billy Gilmour and Ryan Christie making attempts before Lewis Dunk, who was so excellent in just his second international outing, stopped an Aaron Hickey attempt.

However, Scotland was applying increasing pressure, and in the 67th minute, when a red-faced Maguire turned Robertson’s cross past Aaron Ramsdale, the crowd roared.

As Scotland gained momentum, John McGinn attempted to score before Southgate turned to Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze. The latter had an opportunity to calm things down shortly but was denied by Angus Gunn.

Bellingham’s 75th-minute strike was stopped by goalie Gunn after quick footwork and a strong run.

The talented 20-year-old, though, would soon assist England in scoring their third goal, remaining composed under pressure to turn and then thread through Kane to beat Gunn as some spectators started to leave.

From the away end, a jubilant “Harry Maguire, he’s winning 3-1” chant rang out.