Co-hosts Poland have played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Group A rivals Greece in the opening match of the European Championship.

Both sides had a man sent off, while Greece saw a penalty saved in the National Stadium in Warsaw.

Rafal Murawski had an early chance for the hosts, but his drive was pushed out of play by Greece goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias.

It took about 15 minutes for Greece to get near the Polish goal as striker Fanis Gekas flick towards goal drifted wide.

Despite the Greeks' attempts to hold firm, it was the co-hosts who started to dominate the clash and took the lead in the 17th minute from their star striker Robert Lewandowski, who headed home after Chalkias was caught in two minds from Jakub Blaszczykowski's cross.

Avraam Papadopoulos was forced to leave the field 10 minutes before the end of the half and was replaced by the highly-rated 20-year-old Kyriagos Papadopoulos as Greece tried to force a way through after a dire 35 minutes.

Poland had the opportunity to make it 2-0 before the break through Lukasz Piszczek, but the right-back fired just wide.

Greece's half got worse just before the whistle when Sokratis Papastathopoulos was given a dubious second yellow card for a soft foul on Murawski.

However, things started brightly for Greece after the break and they were level on 50 minutes when substitute Dimitris Salpingidis poked home after some indecision from the home defence.

The Greeks had a good to chance to go ahead on the hour, but Giorgios Samaras could only slice his effort over on the angle.

They were given a golden opportunity to take the lead with 20 minutes to go as Szczesny was shown a straight red card for bringing down the lively Salpingidis in the area for the penalty.

Giorgos Karagounis stepped to take the spot kick, but his low effort was saved by substitute keeper Przemyslaw Tyton.

Samaras fired high and wide late on, while Lewandowski put his shot marginally wide, although much of the Warsaw crowd thought that it was in.