Dimitris Salpingidis led Greece back from a goal and a man down to take a 1-1 draw with co-hosts Poland in the opening game of Euro 2012 in Warsaw on Saturday.
Half-time substitute Salpingidis scored and then won a penalty in an incident that saw Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny sent off as both teams finished with 10 men.
Robert Lewandowski became an instant Polish hero when he opened the scoring on 17 minutes with a powerful header from Jakub Blaszczykowski’s cross that bounced underneath diving Greek goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos picked up the first booking of Euro 2012 on 35 minutes for fouling Lewandowski in the air, and it took him just nine minutes to convert it into the first red card when the referee ruled his push on Rafal Murawski a second bookable offence.
Greece equalized on 51 minutes after Szczesny missed Vasilis Torossidis’ cross, leaving the ball loose for Dimitris Salpingidis to smash into the empty net.
Szczesny was sent off with 20 minutes remaining after tripping Salpingidis in a one-on-one contest in the Polish box, and substitute Przemyslaw Tyton rose to the occasion to save captain Giorgios Karagounis’ low penalty.
Salpingidis thought he had scored a second with a close-range finish on 74 minutes, but the referee disallowed the goal for a contentious offside earlier in the move.
Russia and the Czech Republic, the two other teams in Group A, face off in Wroclaw, Poland in Friday’s second game.
Saturday sees the Netherlands play Denmark, while Germany start their campaign against Portugal.
