Questionable refereeing, dodgy goal-keeping, but certainly a thrashing.
Match day 1: By Tom Smart
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Robert Lewandowski opens the
EURO 2012 scoring
Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images Europe |
The opening day of the European Championships without doubt sent messages of enthralling excitement to fans that have waited for football since the end of the domestic season. The day began with the early kick-off where co-hosts Poland took on a supposedly weaker Greek side including ex-City striker, Georgios Samaras.
The game burst into life with the hosts firing on all cylinders and certainly in the mood to impress the home crowd. A quick tempo took the Greeks by surprise and in the 17th minute a whipped cross in by Jakub Blaszczykowski found the soaring head of Robert Lewandowski to put the Poles in the lead.
The Greeks were stunned and hung on for the rest of the half despite being reduced to 10 men. Sokratis Papastathopoulos was initially booked for what seemed a fair challenge, before then being booked a second time for bringing down Polish attacker Ludovic Obraniak. A harsh decision on the Greek side who within minutes also had seen a debatable decision be ruled against them when the were shouts for a handball inside the area by a Polish defender.
