Euro 2012 Group A: Poland 1-1 Greece
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Co-hosts Poland played out a thrilling 1-1 draw with Greece in match marred by two red cards in the opening game of Euro 2012 in Warsaw on Friday.
Poland started brightly and were deservedly ahead after 17 minutes when Robert Lewandowski headed home a swinging cross from Jakub Błaszczykowski, with Greek goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias all at sea.
The Poles' prospects of starting the tournament with a victory appeared to increase before half-time when Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent-off for two harsh yellow cards.
But Greece equalised on 51 minutes as substitute Dimitris Salpigidis scored from close range after Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny raced out of his goal attempting to collect Vasilis Torosidis' right-wing cross but misjudged it totally.
The drama was far from finished and the teams were down to 10 players each in the 69th minute when Szczęsny was sent off for sticking out a leg to trip Salpigidis in the area as he was through on goal.
But Szczesny's replacement in goal Przemysław Tytoń saved Giorgos Karagounis' spot-kick to ensure Poland did not slip to defeat in front of their own fans.
Lineups:
Poland: Wojciech Szczęsny; Łukasz Piszczek, Marcin Wasilewski, Damien Perquis, Sebastian Boenisch; Rafał Murawski, Eugen Polanski; Jakub Błaszczykowski, Ludovic Obraniak, Maciej Rybus (Przemysław Tytoń, 70); Robert Lewandowski
Greece: Kostas Chalkias; Vasilis Torosidis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Avraam Papadopoulos (Kyriakos Papadopoulos, 37), José Holebas; Ioannis Maniatis, Kostas Katsouranis, Giorgos Karagounis; Sotiris Ninis (Dimitris Salpigidis, 46), Theofanis Gekas (Kostas Fortounis, 68), Georgios Samaras
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| Giorgos Karagounis performs a penalty kick saved by Przemyslaw Tytoń Photo: Getty Images |
Poland started brightly and were deservedly ahead after 17 minutes when Robert Lewandowski headed home a swinging cross from Jakub Błaszczykowski, with Greek goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias all at sea.
The Poles' prospects of starting the tournament with a victory appeared to increase before half-time when Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent-off for two harsh yellow cards.
But Greece equalised on 51 minutes as substitute Dimitris Salpigidis scored from close range after Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny raced out of his goal attempting to collect Vasilis Torosidis' right-wing cross but misjudged it totally.
The drama was far from finished and the teams were down to 10 players each in the 69th minute when Szczęsny was sent off for sticking out a leg to trip Salpigidis in the area as he was through on goal.
But Szczesny's replacement in goal Przemysław Tytoń saved Giorgos Karagounis' spot-kick to ensure Poland did not slip to defeat in front of their own fans.
Lineups:
Poland: Wojciech Szczęsny; Łukasz Piszczek, Marcin Wasilewski, Damien Perquis, Sebastian Boenisch; Rafał Murawski, Eugen Polanski; Jakub Błaszczykowski, Ludovic Obraniak, Maciej Rybus (Przemysław Tytoń, 70); Robert Lewandowski
Greece: Kostas Chalkias; Vasilis Torosidis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Avraam Papadopoulos (Kyriakos Papadopoulos, 37), José Holebas; Ioannis Maniatis, Kostas Katsouranis, Giorgos Karagounis; Sotiris Ninis (Dimitris Salpigidis, 46), Theofanis Gekas (Kostas Fortounis, 68), Georgios Samaras
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