More St. Petersburg misery for Krychowiak as Slovakia beat 10-man Poland

Euro 2020 Group E Matchday 1
Poland 1-2 Slovakia
Monday 14 June, St. Petersburg Stadium 

Goals: Poland - Linetty (46); Slovakia - Szczesny OG (19), Skriniar (69)

Sent off: Poland - Krychowiak (62)

RPL players: Maciej Rybus, Grzegorz Krychowiak (both Lokomotiv) 

Former Zenit winger Robert Mak returned to his old club ground in St. Petersburg to spark Slovakia into the lead against Poland. His brilliant run turned Bartosz Berezynski inside out as he cut into the penalty area, before a low shot rebounded back off the post and into the net off Wojciech Szczesny’s head.

In the first half, another ex-Zenit alumnus in Slovakia right-back Tomas Hubocan was booked early on, before Poland’s Lokomotiv midfielder Grzegorz krychowiak was booked too. After the break, Krychowiak was shown his second yellow card on the ground where he had been thrashed 6-1 by Zenit last month, leaving his country down to 10 men.

By that stage they had already equalised, after Krychowiak’s club mate Maciej Rybus set up Karol Linetty. The numerical disadvantage told though, as Milan Skriniar put Slovakia back in front with 20 minutes left.

After their first Group E match Poland go bottom of Group C on 0 points, while Slovakia are top - for now - on 3 points.

Next Euro 2020 fixtures: Friday 18 June - Sweden vs Slovakia; Sunday 20 June - Spain vs Poland