Euro 2012: Petr Cech fires a warning to Greeks

Petr Cech has warned Greece they will face a fired-up Czech Republic side in tonight’s Euro 2012 Group A clash in Wroclaw.

The Czechs head into the Municipal Stadium meeting knowing they are in danger of becoming the first side to be eliminated from Euro 2012. Michal Bilek’s squad got their finals off to a terrible start as they fell to a 4-1 defeat against Russia on Friday, and another reverse at the hands of the 2004 winners will leave them with no hope of advancing. But Chelsea keeper Cech, 30, says they have learned from the mistakes they made in their tournament opener and will be fiercely motivated to put the heavy defeat behind them.

“The lessons we learned were not to make unnecessary mistakes and to play much more aggressively,” said Cech. “They had a lot of space and they have some very good players, so they were able to use that. We attacked too late in the game, and they had already created their chances and scored them. We don’t want to repeat those same mistakes.”

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Bilek is set to make changes to his starting line-up, with Michal Kadlec set to revert to centre-half after struggling at left-back against the Russians and David Limbersky likely to start. Greece coach Fernando Santos, meanwhile, faces a selection headache. The Greeks drew 1-1 with co-hosts Poland on Friday, but the result came at a cost. Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos is suspended after his harsh first-half sending-off while Avraam Papadopoulos suffered a torn cruciate ligament. Kyriakos Papadopoulos is set to come into defence but midfielder Giorgos Fotakis is another absentee with a thigh injury.

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