Greece did well to hold Spain to a 1-1 draw after Spain had threatened to take hold of this game. But each side only had two shots on target, as both defended well. Spain had some good chances to finish the game off, but spurned them. The Greeks had just two corners compared to 15 for Spain, and only 42% of the possession. So the Spanish will feel that they should have had the game well wrapped up before Haristeas equalised on 65 minutes.

In the other group A game, Portugal played well in the first half, and went ahead as early as the 7th minute with a superb goal from Maniche. But at the end of the first half, Russian goalkeeper Ovchinniko was sent off after he handled the ball outside his area when a wayward backpass set Pauleta free. He took a while to leave the pitch, and in the meantime a Russian fan came on the pitch and confronted one of the assistant referees. There was a worrying delay before he was captured by police and security staff. Eventually, Russian substitute goalkeeper Malafeev came on, and Aldonin had to be sacrificed as they went down to 10 men.

As so often happens, the side that had been reduced to 10 played a lot better in the second half, and prevented the Portuguese side from going further ahead. The Russians knew that if they didn't score, their tournament would be over. Portugal, on the other hand, knew that if they got 3 points from this game, they still had the chance to progress to the knockout stages. The match was on a knife-edge until the 88th minute, when Portugal finally scored again with a superb goal from Costa. They now need to win their final match against Spain to be sure of progressing. Russia suffer the ignomony of being the first side to be eliminated from Euro 2004.

10:38:34 PM