Who said Group A was boring! Poland and Greece kicked off Euro 2012 with a thrilling 1-1 draw that had drama from the very first minute.
A colorful opening ceremony saw the packed house at the National stadium in Warsaw pumped up to see their home team start with a bang. They did not disappoint; Poland took control of proceedings right from the start with Dortmund trio Jakub Blaszczykowski, Lukasz Piszczek and Robert Lewandowski posing a constant threat.
After failing to connect on a header by a whisker, Lewandowski opened the scoring in the 17th minute. A swinging cross from Blaszczykowski, saw the Greek goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias come flapping, leaving a gaping net for Lewandowski to head in.
Poland continued to dominate possession after the opener and should have gone into the break at least a couple of goals ahead, Rafal Murawski, Maciej Rybus and Lewandowski all missing clear-cut chances.
The game looked like going the hosts' way even more when Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off by Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo for two extremely harsh yellow cards.
However, instead of dropping their heads, the Greek came out the stronger team and were level after Dimitri Salpigidis scored off a mistake from Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Greece then had the chance to take the lead after Szczesny brought down Salpigidis. Experienced captain Giorgos Karagounis stepped up to take the penalty, only for it to be saved brilliantly by substitute 'keeper Przemyslaw Tyton, as Poland hung on for a draw.
Poland coach Franciszek Smuda said the pressure of playing at home got the better of his team. "I told the players to cheer up, it would have been much worse if we had lost. It is not the end, the tournament is still open.
"Greece are a very experienced team and it is difficult to score against them. It was difficult when we lost the goalkeeper. The situation changed because of the red card.
"We played too much across and backwards in the second half. The Greeks had nothing to lose. They tried and they scored. We now have a few days and we will analyse the match and decide on the 11 for next time. We could see some of the players were paralysed by the pressure."
Greece coach Fernando Santos was unhappy with the harsh sending off of Papastathopoulos. "When Sokratis was sent off it wasn't justified but still we succeeded in keeping on the pressure.
"I totally accept the decision of the referee but it was a difficult situation for us. We were confident and thought we could get in the game again. In the end both teams were tired but tried to create chances and we had the best in the second half."
