Russia turned in a vibrant display on Friday, thrashing the Czech Republic 4-1 to take early command in Euro 2012 Group A after hosts Poland had been held to a 1-1 draw by Greece.

Alan Dzagoev gave the Russians the lead on 15 minutes, blasting in from the edge of the box after Aleksandr Kerzhakov saw a close-range header rebound off the post.

A neat finish from Roman Shirokov nine minutes later put the Russians firmly in the driving seat - although it had been the Czechs who looked livelier in the opening exchanges.

The Czechs pulled one back seven minutes after the restart when Vaclav Pilar beat the offside trap, sidestepped the goalkeeper and slid the ball home following a through ball from Jaroslav Plasil.

But Dzagoev made it 3-1 in netting a fine right-footed strike after being played in by substitute and former Tottenham star Roman Pavlyuchenko, who promptly smacked in a magnificent fourth for the 2008 semi-finalists with eight minutes remaining.

 

Russia 4

Dzagoev 15, 79

Shirokov 24

Pavlyuchenko 82

Czech Republic 1

Pilar 51

 

Russia: Vyacheslav Malafeev, Alexander Anyukov, Alexei Berezutski, Sergey Ignashevich, Yuri Zhirkov, Roman Shirokov, Igor Denisov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Alan Dzagoev (Alexander Kokorin 85), Alexander Kerzhakov (Roman Pavlyuchenko 73), Andrey Arshavin.

Czech Republic: Petr Cech, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Roman Hubník, Tomas Sivok, Michal Kadlec, Jan Rezek (Tomas Hubschman 46), Jaroslav Plasil, Tomas Rosicky, Petr Jiracek (Milan Petrzela 76), Vaclav Pilar - Milan Baros (David Lafata 85).

Referee: Howard Webb (England).

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