Mesut Özil had a quiet night during Germany’s eventful 3-2 win at Hamden Park.

Heading into the game, Germany knew all three points would leave them on the brink of qualification for the European Championships next summer while Scotland were in desperate need of something to stop the Republic of Ireland widening the gap between the two sides.

Playing in a free role from the left wing, Özil wasn’t heavily involved as Thomas Müller scored twice and assisted Ilkay Gündogan for the third despite Scotland’s attempts to build some sort of momentum. The hosts pegged the world champions back twice but couldn’t do any more to stay in the game as quality eventually shone through.

Özil has three assists in four appearances through the qualifiers and Germany now need just two points from their remaining two games to guarantee qualification.

Deep into added time on Monday night Özil was substituted, and Arsenal fans will be delighted to know he came through the international break unscathed. The midfielder missed the Gunners’ last Premier League game away at Newcastle but will now return to London and, after coming through two games in the past four days, has almost a week to recover before Arsène Wenger’s men face Stoke City on Saturday.