Czech Republic 1 – 3 Portugal
Libor Sionko (17) Deco (8)
Cristiano Ronaldo (63)
Ricardo Quaresma (90)

Cristiano Ronaldo’s sweet second-half strike all but put Portugal into the Euro 2008 quarter-finals today as Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team beat Czech Republic at the Stade de Geneve.
‘Our idea is to play to win and go through,’ said Portugal playmaker Deco.

The Manchester United star coolly slotted home after being teed up by Deco shortly after the hour to put the Portuguese in the lead for a second time, Libor Sionko having cancelled out Deco’s opener.

Substitute Ricardo Quaresma put matters absolutely beyond doubt in stoppage-time when he tapped home from Ronaldo’s pass.

Highlights Czech Republic 1 – 3 Portugal

Greece 0 – 2 Sweden
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (67)
Petter Hansson (73)

Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic ended his international goal drought in style as Greece’s defence of their European Championship title started with defeat in Salzburg.

Ibrahimovic had not scored for his country since October 2005 but smashed into the top corner in the 67th minute at Stadion Wals-Siezenheim.

Petter Hansson bundled in a second five minutes later, the resistance of the Greeks was crushed.

Charisteas run

Spain 4 – 1 Russia

David Villa (20) Roman Pavluchenko (86)
David Villa (45)
David Villa (75)
Cesc Fábregas (90)

David Villa struck a hat-trick as classy Spain got their Euro 2008 challenge off to a flying start against Russia at a rain-swept Stadion Tivoli Neu in Innsbruck.

Villa scored twice in the first half before netting his third 15 minutes from time, earning himself the match ball, the man-of-the-match award and making him an early front-runner for the tournament’s leading scorer.

Roman Pavluchenko pulled a late goal back for Russia, but there was still time for Spain to net a fourth through Cesc Fabregas to wrap up a deserved win.

Highlights

1st David Villa Scored


Pavluchenko hit the bar
2nd David Villa Scored
Ibrahimovic header

Netherlands 3 – 0 Italy

Ruud van Nistelrooy (26)
Wesley Sneijder (31)
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst (80)

World champions Italy suffered a calamitous start to their Euro 2008 campaign as they fell to an impressive Holland in their Group C opener in Bern.

The Dutch were lucky to take a 26th-minute lead after Ruud van Nistelrooy turned in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s effort despite being clearly offside.

Wesley Sneijder then celebrated his 24th birthday in style by adding a stunning breakaway second on the half-hour mark.

Italy had numerous chances to reduce the deficit after the restart but Edwin van der Sar came to the rescue, making superb saves from Andrea Pirlo’s free-kick and Fabio Grosso’s close-range effort.

Van Bronckhorst completed a wonderful evening for Holland by heading past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the 79th minute as the Dutch celebrated their first victory against the Italians since the 1978 World Cup.



Holland-Italy 1st half highlights

Romania vs France

France did their chances of advancing from a tough Group C no favours when they drew 0-0 with Romania in a tight, tactical affair in their opening match at Euro 2008 on Monday.

The 2006 World Cup runners-up, who will also face the Netherlands and world champions Italy in what is seen as the toughest group of the tournament, looked nervous and failed to breach a tight Romania defence.

Benzema Shot

France vs Romania (1st half highlights)

Germany 2 – 0 Poland

Lukas Podolski netted both goals against the country of his birth to give Germany a winning start to their Euro 2008 campaign against Poland in Klagenfurt.

Bayern Munich team-mates Miroslav Klose and Podolski – two of three Poland-born players in the Germany squad – combined in the 20th minute for the latter to put the 1996 European champions ahead, before Podolski sealed the win midway through the second half.

First half highlights
Krzynowek shot
Boruc saves from Ballack

Austria 0 – 1 Croatia

4′

Luka Modric (pen)

Croatia got their Euro 2008 campaign off to a winning start on Sunday when a fourth-minute Luka Modric penalty proved enough to beat co-hosts Austria 1-0 in the opening game of Group B.

Croatia were well worth their win against a team placed 92nd in FIFA’s world rankings and set the pace before group rivals Germany and Poland met in Klagenfurt later on Sunday (1845 GMT).

Luka Modric Scored

Highlights

Switzerland 0 – 1 Czech Republic

Switzerland’s Euro 2008 campaign got off to a catastrophic start as substitute Vaclav Sverkos’ second-half strike earned the Czech Republic a smash-and-grab win over the co-hosts in the tournament curtain-raiser in Basle.

Not only did the Swiss lose a Group A match they dominated for large parts at the St Jakob-Park, they also may have lost talismanic striker Alexander Frei for the rest of the competition after he went off injured at the end of the first half.

Highlights Video Switzerland vs Czech Republic

Euro 2008: opening ceremony

Portugal 2 – 0 Turkey

Second-half goals from Pepe and substitute Raul Meireles ensured Portugal got their Euro 2008 campaign off to a winning start against Turkey at the Stade de Geneve.

Man of the match Pepe sent the Portuguese fans into raptures on the hour with a well-taken goal, playing a neat one-two with captain Nuno Gomes before lifting his shot over Volkan Demirel.

Highlights Video Portugal vs Turkey

Shortly after, Tuncay got in the way of Nihat who was about to shoot – the first comedy moment of Euro 2008.
17th minute Pepe thought he had put Portugal one-up, but his header was disallowed by the linesman.

Ronaldo free-kick
Ronaldo shot

Argentina 4 – Mexico 1

Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero were the architects as Argentina romped to a comfortable win over Mexico at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego.

Argentina took the lead after 10 minutes when Nicolas Burdisso converted a Maxi Rodriguez free-kick.

Seven minutes later Messi finished off a good move involving Aguero and Julio Cruz.

And Argentina extended their lead to three when Maxi Rodriguez took advantage of a defensive mistake to score.