Derby County’s Kamil Jozwiak made his UEFA European Championships debut on Monday evening.
The winger was named in the starting line-up for Poland as they took on Slovakia in the Russian of Saint Petersburg in their Group E opener.
Jozwiak, who is 23 and now has 15 international caps, played on the right wing for the full 90 minutes as ten-man Poland fell to a 2-1 defeat.
Slovakia opened the scoring after 18 minutes as Robert Mak’s shot from inside the box hit the post and rebounded off Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny into the net for an own goal.
Poland levelled within 30 seconds of the restart as Karol Linetty fired home after a fast and flowing attack with manager Paulo Sousa’s half-time words still ringing in their ears.
However, after getting themselves on top in the game, Poland’s Grzegorz Krychowiak was sent off for two yellow cards just after the hour mark.
Within a few minutes, Slovakia made their numerical advantage count as a corner was half-cleared and dropped perfectly for Milan Skriniar to lash beyond Szczesny.
Poland continued to push forward in search of another equaliser, but their efforts proved to be unrewarded.
Poland’s next Group E game will see them head to Spain to face the 2008 and 2012 European Championships winners on Saturday 19th June, before returning to Saint Petersburg to take on Sweden on Wednesday 23rd June.