Day 1

Poland 1-1 Greece

Host nation Poland kicked off the 2012 European Championship's with an entertaining 1-1 draw against Euro 2004 Champion's Greece.

In a battle of two halves, both sides had a man sent off in an extraordinary opening fixture.

The Poles dominated the opening 45 minutes, with their Borussia Dortmund trio in Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek having a major influence. The three combined on 17 minutes to set up the opening goal, with Piszczek feeding an overlapping run from Blaszczykowski, who delivered an inch-perfect cross for Lewandowski to head home. It was a superb move, and the 57,000 inside the National Stadium in Warsaw celebrated.

Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo was at the centre of the controversy late in the half, when he sent off Greek defender Sokratis Papasthathopoulos for two bookable offences. Neither of which really merited yellow cards.

With Poland well on top, holding a 1-0 lead and a one man advantage at the break, the Greek's looked dead and buried, however some inspiring management from Fernando Santos brought them back to life.

The Portuguese boss brought on striker Dimitris Salpingidis at half time, and within 6 minutes of his introduction he had an equaliser. Vassilis Torossidis whipped in a lovely cross, which Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny flapped at, leaving Salpingidis with a tap-in.

The complacency which had swept through the Polish side was highlighted moments later, when Salpingidis raced through on goal again. This time Szczesny stuck out a leg to bring down the forward, resulting in a penalty and his sending off.

Substitute keeper Przemyslaw Tyton came off the bench to save a tame penalty from Greece's captain Giorgos Karagounis with his first touch, meaning the points were shared in a 1-1 draw.

Russia 4-1 Czech Rep.

Russia got their Euro 2012 campaign off to a brilliant start, recording a thumping 4-1 win over the Czech Republic.

The Russian's, who famously made the Semi Final's of the last European Championship's, were on top from start to finish, highlighting the threat they pose at this competition. Their fluent, expansive passing game opened up gaping holes in the Czech defence, which they exploited at will.

21-year-old Alan Dzagoev got the party started after a quarter of an hour. Aleksandr Kerzhakov headed against the post, with the rebound falling invitingly for Dzagoev to smash it into an empty net.

Just nine minutes later and they had a second. Andrei Arshavin's through ball was meant for Kerzhakov, however after the striker failed to take control of the pass, it found its way through to Roman Shirokov. He lifted the ball over Petr Cech with a gifted finish to double the Russian's advantage.

The Czech's looked demoralised, and in danger of copping a belting, until the pulled one back in the 52nd minute. Jaroslav Plasil played a wonderful pass to pick out Vaclav Pilar, who rounded the keeper before touching home bring his nation right back into the game.

Yet it proved merely a consolation goal, as Dzagoev sealed the three points with just over ten minutes remaining. Roman Pavlyuchenko played in the young striker, who smashed it past the keeper in a flash to make it 3-1.

Pavlyuchenko got a goal of his own just moments later, when he rounded a couple of defenders before picking out the top corner for the Russian's fourth.

It left the Czech's reeling, whilst Russia will go into their next match against Poland full of confidence.

Russia 3 (+3)

Greece 1 (0)

Poland 1 (0)

Czech Rep 0 (-3)