Patrik Schick scores from the halfway line to down Scotland

Scotland 0 - 2 Czech Republic
(Schick 42', 52')
Hampden Park, Glasgow

Euro 2020 is only four days old but it may already have its goal of the tournament.

Picking up the ball near the halfway line against Scotland, Czech Republic striker Patrik Schick took one look up and, seeing goalkeeper David Marshall way off his line, fired a lofting ball that dropped just under the Scottish bar — leaving Marshall chanceless as he rushed back only to collapse into the back of his goal's netting.

It was a spectacular finish and it put the Czechs 2-0 up and on course for victory in their Group D opener in Glasgow.

"I noticed the situation in the first half," Schick told the BBC in a postmatch interview. "I knew the goalkeeper was stood very high, so I had that in mind."

The Bayer Leverkusen striker had already beaten Marshall with a powerful and well-placed header to give his team the lead just before half-time. Following a corner that the Scottish defense failed to completely clear, the Czechs whipped the ball back into the area.

Schick easily outjumped his marker to direct a downward header that left Marshall without a chance.

Well-traveled Patrik Schick

Every major tournament tends to produce a breakout player and, although this was just one game, after that performance, you have to wonder if Schick just might be one of those players at Euro 2020.

Still just 25 years old, Schick is already on to his sixth club since making his professional debut at the age of 18 for the club of his youth, Sparta Prague, in 2014.

After that, Schick had spells at Serie A outfits Sampdoria and Roma, before arriving in the Bundesliga on loan at RB Leipzigin the autumn of 2019.

Why didn't RB Leipzig sign him?

Schick had a decent season in Leipzig, finding the back of the net 10 times in 22 appearances. With fellow striker Timo Werner on his way to Premier League side Chelsea, it looked like perfect timing for the Bundesliga club to trigger an option to purchase the Czech forward.

With the financial uncertainty that the pandemic brought with it, Leipzig were apparently unwilling to pay the reported €29 million ($35 million) that Roma were seeking for him.

This is where Bayer Leverkusen stepped and paid what is reported to have been a similar fee to bring Schick to the Rhineland, where he scored nine goals in 29 matches last season.

He also netted four times for his country as the Czech Republic qualified for Euro 2020, and his first two tournament goals silenced the vast majority of the 12,000 fans inside Hampden Park, who had created a stirring prematch atmosphere ahead of Scotland's first appearance at a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.

In an entertaining game, the Scots had their chances to get on the scoreboard, with Liverpool's Andy Robertson forcing a good save from Tomas Vaclik, Jack Hendrys hitting the bar and Lyndon Dykes shooting just wide.

They would come to rue those missed chances when Schick broke the deadlock and then capped off the win with his stunning long-range effort. With their striker in this form, the Czech Republic will approach their next two games against Croatia and England with added confidence.

"We know that Croatia are very strong and we're expecting a different sort of game," Schick said.