Poland will hope to kickstart their UEFA Euro 2020 campaign from the right foot as they face Slovakia in Saint Petersburg

The White and Reds start their European campaign against the Slovaks as both sides look to get off to a good start at UEFA Euro 2020.

Paulo Sousa’s men head into their third consecutive international tournament with optimism after their dismal World Cup 2018 campaign.

Poland faced two International Friendlies ahead of Euro 2020 as preparation and a chance to try some tactics and formations.

The first of those friendlies was against Russia at the Estadio Municipal de Breslavia in Wroclaw as many new faces got the nod for this encounter.

After only four minutes, Poland found themselves in front. Mateusz Klich’s pass found the run of Przemysław Frankowski who neatly passed it into the path of Jakub Świerczok who slotted the ball into the back of the net for the opener.

In the 21st minute, Stanislav Cherchesov’s men were back on level terms. Aleksandr Golovin played a delightful ball to the back post which saw Vyacheslav Karavayev tap the ball in between the legs of Łukasz Fabiański to level the game at 1-1.

That was how the game ended and it reflected a quite even game from both sides, but Poland made mistakes and Russia had chances to punish the White and Reds throughout the 90 minutes.

Poland’s second friendly was played at the Poznań Stadium as the Poles faced Iceland. In the 24th minute, the visitors had the lead of the game.

Captain Aron Gunnarsson flicked the ball into the path of Albert Guðmundsson who tapped the ball into the back of the net. Initially, the goal was ruled out for offside but after a VAR check, the goal was given.

Sousa’s men responded 10 minutes later through Piotr Zieliński. Lewandowski was fouled but the referee waved the play on for advantage. Tymoteusz Puchacz played a delightful ball into the box which allowed Zieliński to equalise from close range with an easy tap-in.

Brynjar Ingi Bjarnason gave Iceland the lead once more after he was left unmarked which allowed him to smash his effort past Wojciech Szczęsny.

In the dying embers of the match, Poland were able to grab an equaliser through Karol Świderski. Kacper Kozłowski fired in a beautiful cross which the forward controlled with his chest and simply turned and fired the ball low into the bottom corner.

Slovakia also had two warm-up games against Bulgaria and Austria in their preparations for Euro 2020. Štefan Tarkovič men welcomed the Bulgarians to The Josko Arena for the first International Friendly.

Inside the first 10 minutes, Atanas Iliev had the ball in the back of the net as the forward gave Bulgaria an early lead.

Laszlo Benes equalised in the 27th minute as Slovakia’s number six rescued a draw for his side on home turf in a tight affair.

The second of the two International Friendlies saw the Slovaks travel to Vienna to face Austria at The Ernst Happel Stadion.

Austria dominated possession throughout the 90 minutes but were unable to take their chances as Slovakia held them to a 0-0 draw.

27 shots were taken by both sides combined and only 10 hit the target with only a few of them goalscoring opportunities.

In the all-time head-to-head between Poland and Slovakia, the latter is on top with four wins under their belts. The White and Reds are not far behind on three wins but will certainly look to level the series up on four victories apiece after their match in the opening matchday of the tournament.

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