Romania edged out Greece in their opening Group F encounter thanks to a penalty from captain Ciprian Marica this evening.

Marica put his side ahead on 10 minutes when he confidently sent Orestis Karnezis the wrong way from the spot after Alexandru Chipciu was tripped in the box.

However Marica went from hero to villain as he was sent off after picking up a second yellow card for a high challenge on Andreas Samaris just eight minutes into the second half.

Greece offered little going forwards though, and only threatened when Vassilis Torosidis headed Panagiotis Kone's free kick against the crossbar with three minutes left.

The game, which was a repeat of last summer's World Cup playoff, was played behind closed doors as punishment for previous crowd disturbances at Greece's fixtures.