The National:

SCOTLAND has lost its first game of the Euro 2020 tournament.

The men's team saw hopes of an opening victory stolen away by the Czech Republic's Patrik Schick, who scored a header in the first half and a blinding lob from near the half-way line in the second.

But losing the game doesn't mean Scotland has lost its sense of humour, and many disappointed fans have taken to Twitter to prove it.

READ MORE: Better Together boss berates Scottish football fans for not supporting England

The 23-year wait for the Scottish men's team to play in a major tournament like the Euros means that many young Scots had never seen their team play on such a high level before today.

As many social media users highlighted, that one match has given a good taste of what the rest of us have come to know.

Although there are still two more matches guaranteed for Scotland, the Czech Republic was likely their best chance to score a victory.

The men's team have yet to play England, who made it to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018, and Croatia, who made it to the final.

With expectations going into those games perhaps more realistic, some Scots are preparing for another long wait.

And the result wasn't made much easier to take following the news that under Expected Goals, an advanced metric used to evaluate football teams' performances, Scotland were significantly ahead.

Though if Scotland can take one thing from the match, it’s that they were there when history was made.

Not only was it the first match the men’s team had played at an international tournament in more than two decades, it saw the longest distance goal in the Euros since records began in 1980.

Schick's effort, as well as sparking countless puns along the lines of Scotland being "Schick of losing", has been widely hailed as a contender for goal of the torunament. So there's that.

And Schick's second goal also ensured that the Czech Republic are the current leaders of Group D, keeping the top spot out of England's hands after they beat Croatia 1-0 over the weekend.

The goal hasn't just become instantly iconic for the strike, but also for Scottish keeper David Marshall's scrambled attempt to stop it going in.

Sharing an emoji of a tear being shed, the First Minister tried to take a more optimistic view.

"Onwards and upwards though...next stop Wembley", Nicola Sturgeon tweeted.

The nation still has Janey Godley at least, who showed why she isn't allowed to commentate on the football matches in a tweet during the game.

And even a loss allowed for an informal meeting between Scottish international development minister Jenny Gilruth and the Czech Republic's ambassador, so not too shabby for Scotland's position on the world stage.

Here are some more of our favourite tweets following the loss: