Russia scored in stoppage time to stun England and earn a 1-1 draw in their European Championship opener in Group B at Marseille's Stade Velodrome.

Vasili Berezutski's goal cancelled out Eric Dier's second-half free kick and ruined England's hopes of finally opening the competition with a victory.

England, with Wayne Rooney in midfield, adopted a positive approach and had a number of scoring chances in the first half, but they could not beat Russia keeper Igor Akinfeev.

Russia showed signs of improvement in the second half, and Gary Cahill needed to make a fine challenge after a pass across goal from Aleksandr Kokorin early on.

England were in control, though, and Wayne Rooney nearly gave them the lead on 71 minutes when Danny Rose's low cross deflected into his path inside the area, but Akinfeev was able to divert his shot onto the crossbar. Adam Lallana struck the post with the follow-up but was flagged offside.

They did not have to wait long, though. England were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area for a foul on Dele Alli, and Dier unexpectedly stepped up to smash the ball past Akinfeev.

But out of nothing, Russia forced a corner and Georgy Schennikov sent in a cross that Berezutski headed over stranded goalkeeper Joe Hart in the 92nd minute to salvage a point.

Gareth Bale opened his account with an early free kick as Wales beat Slovakia 2-1 in an entertaining Group B encounter at the Stade de Bordeaux.

Slovakia had a golden opportunity to make the breakthrough inside three minutes when Marek Hamsik danced through the defence but was denied by Ben Davies.

On 10 minutes, Bale gave them the breakthrough, firing home a swerving free kick, with Slovakia keeper Matus Kozacik caught out after initially misjudging its direction.

Slovakia drew level on 61 minutes when Robert Mak outpaced Aaron Ramsey down the right and set up substitute Ondrej Duda, whose first involvement was to slot home.

But Wales had the final word, with Ramsey beating Martin Skrtel as he bore down on goal and Hal Robson-Kanu scuffing home when the ball ran loose.

Switzerland beat 10-man Albania 1-0 in Lens in their Group A opener to move level on points with hosts France.

Switzerland took the lead inside five minutes when Fabian Schar headed home after Albania goalkeeper Etrit Berisha's misjudged attempt to gather a Xherdan Shaqiri corner.

Albania's hopes suffered a setback seven minutes before the break when captain Lorik Cana picked up a second yellow card when he clearly handled the ball to prevent Haris Seferovic going through on goal.

They still had chances to level, most notably when Shkelzen Gashi was sent clean through in the 87th minute, but Switzerland held on for victory.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by ESPN staff

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