With Red Card And Own Goal, Slovakia Beats Poland 2-1

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JAKARTA - Slovakia managed to overcome Poland with a score of 2-1 in the opening match of Group E Euro 2020 at the Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Slovakia's victory was marked by a red card for Polish midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak and his partner goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny who scored an own goal.

Poland returned from its own goal through Karol Linetty, but Slovakia was able to take advantage of situation 11 against 10 to restore advantage through Milan Skriniar's goal, according to the official UEFA website, as quoted by Antara.

It wasn't even 18 minutes into the game when Robert Mak pulled off a stunning dribble from the left flank of the Slovakian attack to round Bartosz Bereszynski before firing a shot that Szczesny missed.

The last ball hit Szczesny's shoulder before sinking into the goal of Poland, so the goal was declared an own goal for the Juventus goalkeeper.

The goal seemed to prolong Szczesny's misfortune in Poland's first appearance at Euro three in a row, having been sent off against Greece in 2012 and injured against Northern Ireland four years later.

According to Opta's records, it was the first time a goalkeeper had scored his own goal in a Euro main draw match of all time.

The advantage was maintained by Slovakia until half-time, moreover they were not bothered much by the Polish players.

Things seemed to change when Poland kicked off immediately at the start of the second half with their first attack which soon led to Linetty's equalizer.

From a second-half follow-up, Maciej Rybus ripped apart the right side of the Slovakian defense before sending in a pull pass which was missed by Robert Lewandowski, but Linetty was in the right position to cheat the ball and make it 1-1.

Unfortunately, the momentum of the revival had to be hit hard when Krychowiak tackled Jacub Hromada from behind so the referee Ovidiu Hategan awarded a second yellow card and Poland had to play with 10 men from the 62nd minute.

The situation of 11 against 10 was quickly exploited by Slovakia, who seven minutes later restored their lead through Skriniar's precision goal.

Starting from a corner that was headed by Marek Hamsik, Skriniar made one touch of brilliant control before firing a right-footed shot that gave Szczesny no chance to make a save. Slovakia two, Poland one.

With just 10 men, Poland fought hard to at least equalize but Tymoteusz Puchacz and Lewandowski still missed the mark.

Another chance was created by Karol Swiderski in the third minute of injury time and managed to find the target, but goalkeeper Martin Dubravka swiftly saved the ball and all three points for Slovakia.

In the next match, Poland must fly to Sevilla to face host Spain in La Cartuja on Saturday (19/6), while Slovakia the day before returned to play in Saint Petersburg against Sweden.