Bastian Schweinsteiger had time for three touches of the ball and scored with one as world champions Germany started their European Championship campaign with a 2-0 win over Ukraine. The 31-year-old Manchester United midfielder came on in the 90th minute and quickly put away a perfect pass from Mesut Ozil for the deciding goal. With fan violence again tainting the tournament, Germany's win followed 1-0 victories for Poland over Northern Ireland and Croatia over Turkey.
Schweinsteiger is coming back from a three month knee ligament layoff and the joy of his first international goal in five years apparently took a toll. "I ran so hard in the celebrations that I'm a bit out of breath still. "It was amazing for that to happen, it's the kind of thing you can only wish for, but the most important thing is the team wins," he said of his quickfire goal in the Group C match.s.