Scotland have suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Kazakhstan in their opening game of Euro 2020 qualifying.

The defeat leaves Alex McLeish's men facing an uphill struggle to qualify automatically from a group that also includes Russia and Belgium.

It is of course not the first time the long suffering Tartan Army have been left drowning their sorrows after a heavy loss.

We take a look back at the most embarrassing results in our national team's history.

In Switzerland 1954 Scotland took part in their first ever World Cup after withdrawing from the 1950 tournament.

And after they played World Champions Uruguay they would have been wishing they also withdrew from this one.

Like many major tournaments since it turned into an ill-fated event for the Scots who were knocked out after two games and two defeats.

After losing their first game against Austria 1-0 they were then humiliated by seven goals to nil by the the South Americans.

Rumours of bad planning, down to having kits unsuitable for summer weather, surrounded the trip at a time when regular travel throughout the continent was still in its infancy.

As if losing 7-0 on the world's biggest stage wasn't bad enough, Scotland would then suffer an even bigger embarrassment to the Auld Enemy less than a decade later.

In front of 97,000 fans at Wembley, the rampant home side ran riot with a hat-trick from the legendary Jimmy Greaves and goals from Robson, Douglas, Smith and Haynes.

After being 3-0 down at half-time the Tartan Army would have been forgiven for thinking the come-back was on after Scotland pulled it back to 3-2 at the start of the second.

But the English would pull away again with another six goals to win the game 9-3.

In 1978 the star-studded side managed by Ally Mcleod had some of the best players in European football and there was a genuine belief they could make an impact at the World Cup in Argentina.

But a horror show in their opening game against lowly Iran seen the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness held to a 1-1 draw.

In their second game they were completely outclassed by Peru and their legendary play-maker Teófilo Cubillas who scored an outstanding free kick in a 3-1 win for the South Americans.

Left needing to beat tournament favourites Holland by three clear goals to qualify the Scots looked dead and buried until an Archie Gemmill wonder goal put them 3-1 up and let the Tartan Army dream of glory, until a late goal by the Dutch sent them home.

The glorious failure of all glorious failures.

After qualifying for Italia 1990 Andy Roxburgh's men were handed a favourable draw against Brazil, Sweden and Costa Rica.

The perception at the time was that it would be a two-way fight for second between Scotland and Sweden leaving the unfancied Costa Ricans as whipping boys.

But yet-again Scotland were left with egg on their faces after a 1-0 opening game defeat against the Central American side.

Despite a 2-1 win over Sweden, it was the first flight home yet again for the Tartan Army as Costa Rica took second spot behind Brazil.

Future Celtic striker Jorge Cadete scored a double to help the Portuguese record a convincing victory that ended Scotland's hopes of qualifying for the World Cup in America.

As well as the embarrassing score-line the game is also remembered for Rangers forward Ally McCoist suffering a horror leg-break.

Scotland were forced to finish the game with ten-men after McCoist's injury on the 83rd minute.

In France 1998 Scotland opened the tournament with a respectable 2-1 defeat to world champions Brazil after a late own goal by Tom Boyd.

They followed that up with a 1-1 draw against Norway before going into the final game only needing a win over North African side Morocco.

But Craig Brown's men would suffer the same fate as those before them when the Mustafa Hadji inspired Moroccans ran out winners with a convincing 3-0.

Craig Burley, who had died his hair blonde for the occasion, was sent off as Scotland crashed out at the group stage yet again.

Now 21 years later France '98 remains the last major tournament that Scotland qualified for.

The first game of the ill-fated Berti Vogts era began with an embarrassing draw with tiny Faroe islands that in reality could have been so much worse.

Scotland's first ever foreign manager started the game with a an unorthodox side including striker Paul Dickov at right wing, Old Firm youngsters Maurice Ross and Stephen Crainey at right and left back and an unlikely front pairing of complete unknown Scott Dobie, and 18-year-old Kevin Kyle who had never even played a first-team game in his career.

Trailing the Faroes by 2-0 at half-time, after a first 45 minutes that could easily have been four or five to the minnows, captain Paul Lambert let-rip at his team mates and then scored to inspire a second-half come back to avoid what would have gone down as the worst defeat ever.

Despite the horrible start Vogts managed to get Scotland back on track and into the play-offs after back to back wins over Iceland a 1-1 draw with Germany at Hampden.

After drawing Holland in the play-offs, expectations were pretty low until a superb James McFadden goal gave them a 1-0 first leg victory at Hampden.

But the second leg in Amsterdam was a different proposition all together as the Dutch put in a vintage display to secure a 6-1 victory.

Lithuania produced a Euro 2004 shock when a spot-kick from Tomas Razanauskas was enough to beat Scotland in Kaunas.

The home side capitalised on a penalty conceded by Celtic full-back Jackie McNamara to put the Lithuanians level on points with the Scots after five games played.

But a late Darren Fletcher goal at Hampden was enough to secure a 1-0 win and a play-off spot as Scotland returned the favour.

In 2004 Berti Vogts took his side to Cardiff for a friendly at the Millennium Stadium.

An experimental Scotland side, including future Rangers manager Graeme Murty directly up against Ryan Giggs, were given no leeway against a full strength Welsh side in front of a capacity crowd.

A hat-trick by James Earnshaw secured a famous 4-0 victory for the Welsh.

After Walter Smith took the reigns mid-way through Scotland's World Cup qualifying campaign results started to pick up bringing a renewed hope of qualification.

But those hopes were quickly dashed when Belarus came to Hampden and left with all three points thanks to a 1-0 win.

Smith was criticised for his defensive approach to the game despite having several attacking options on the bench.

The defeat confirmed failure to qualify.

In 2008, George Burley's first game in his dream job turned into a nightmare in Skopje.

Ilco Naumoski struck the only goal of the game on five minutes as the Scots struggled in the blistering Macedonian heat.

And it never really got much better for the former Hearts man as Scotland stumbled from one poor result to the next during his reign.

In 2009 Scotland's World Cup dream was left on a knife edge after they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Norway in Oslo.

The Scots were left facing an uphill struggle after a sending off for Gary Caldwell left them with ten men for most of the game.

Liverpool's John Arne-Riise scored a deflected free-kick as the Norwegians dominated.

In 2012 Craig Levein took his squad State-side for a pre-season friendly.

A Landon Donovan hat-trick secured a convincing victory against the sorry Scots in front of 45,000 in the Florida heat.

They say there is no easy games in football anymore, but Liechtenstein at home is about as close as you are going to get.

After a first half goal put the minnows 1-0 up at Hampden, Scotland were literally seconds from their worst ever result before they were saved by a last-gasp winner from Celtic captain Stephen McManus.

Relieved manager Craig Levein even lost his glasses as he celebrated the 97th minute winner.