LONDON, March 9: AC Milan and FC Porto warmed up for the resumption of their Champions League last-16 ties next week with wins in their domestic leagues on Friday but Galatasaray suffered an upset.
Milan, who travel to the Nou Camp on Tuesday to face Barcelona with a 2-0 advantage after the first-leg, consolidated their grip on third place in Serie A with a 2-0 win at Genoa.
Porto prepared for their return match at Malaga, a tie in which they are 1-0 up after the first-leg, with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Estoril in the Portuguese league.
Ivorian striker Didier Drogba, meanwhile, would be looking to make amends against Schalke 04 in the Champions League on Tuesday — in a tie evenly-poised at 1-1 — after he missed a penalty in Galatasaray’s 1-0 defeat to Genclerbirligi in the Turkish league.
Mario Balotelli grabbed the headlines again as he came off the bench to help 10-man Milan to victory but their joy was soured as they lost two key players to injury.
Balotelli netted on the hour with a sharply angled shot, after he had replaced the other scorer Giampaolo Pazzini in the first half, to give Milan the cushion they needed following the 65th-minute dismissal of utility player Kevin Constant for lashing out at Genoa defender Cesare Bovo.
Pazzini was already limping when he scored in the 22nd minute with a rising shot and defender Philippe Mexes also exited at half-time with an apparent injury.
The win helped Milan increased their points tally to 51 from 28 matches, two points behind Napoli and eight behind leaders Juventus.
“We made a nice little step forward in the table,” Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri said. “If Napoli permits us, we’ll aim for more than third place. Now we’re going to turn our attentions to Barcelona and prepare for that match as well as we can.”
On the injuries, Allegri added: “We’ll have to evaluate Pazzini’s condition over the next couple of days while Mexes was removed for more precautionary reasons.”
Porto provisionally moved to the top in Portugal after goals in the opening 15 minutes by Maicon and Jackson Martinez helped them to bounce back from their stalemate against rivals Sporting Lisbon last week.
The win helped Porto move up to 56 points, one ahead of Benfica who have a game in hand.
Galatasaray failed to extend their five-point advantage in the Turkey as they fell behind to a strike by Genclerbirligi’s Bjorn Fleminicx on the hour mark before Drogba missed a penalty, shooting it well wide, in the 83rd.
It kept the Istanbul giants on 47 points with second-placed Besiktas on 42 and with an opportunity to narrow the gap with their game in hand.
Elsewhere across Europe, Real Betis boosted their chances of qualifying for Europe next season with a 2-1 La Liga victory against Osasunawhile St Etienne missed the chance to leapfrog Marseille into third spot in Ligue 1 after settling for a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Stade Rennes.
Striker Ruben Castro scored the late winner for Betis which helped the Andalusians rise to provisional fifth place on 43 points, only behind Malaga on goal-difference.
Jorge Molina gave Betis the lead after 19 minutes before Francisco Silva levelled in the 73rd but six minutes later Castro then raced on to a superb through ball from substitute Dorlan Pabon before coolly rolling it under the goalkeeper.
“Our goal at the start of the season was to secure our position in the top flight,” Castro told Marca TV. “We have achieved that and now we are going for a bigger prize.”
St Etienne twice came from behind thanks to goals from Yohan Mollo and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against a Rennes side with top six ambitions of their own.
Romain Danze headed Rennes in front on the stroke of half-time but the teams went into the break level after Mollo scored in stoppage time.Julien Feret put the home side ahead again six minutes into the second-half only for Mollo to set up a neat finish for Aubameyang in the 66th.
St Etienne moved to 48 points, one behind Marseille while Rennes moved provisionally up to eighth, six points behind Friday’s rivals.
In the only Bundesliga match on Friday, Japan midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake scored the opening goal and drew a foul that led to the winner as Nuremberg beat Augsburg 2-1 to move 10 points above the relegation playoff spot, occupied by their opponents.—Agencies