FC Porto labored to a 0-0 tie with Deportivo de La Coruna on Wednesday leaving Monaco as the only clear favorite to reach the Champions League final.
The only surviving team to have won Europe's most prestigious club competition, Porto hit the bar but failed to beat Depor's goalkeeper in a low quality game at the new Stadium of the Dragon, refurbished for Euro 2004.
PHOTO: AFP
Nuno Ribeiro "Maniche" floated a 25m shot that hit the crossbar and Lithuanian striker Edgaras Jankauskas headed a rightwing free kick wide of the far post as Porto twice threatened to break the deadlock.
Deportivo was reduced to 10 men four minutes from the end when Jorge Andrade, a former Porto player, foolishly kicked out at Deco in front of referee Markus Merk after being called for a foul and was sent off.
Like Brazilian teammate Mauro Silva, Andrade's partner in central defense who was booked in the game, he will be suspended for the second leg on home turf.
"It was very tense, very difficult. It's not a bad result," Mauro said. "We've got 90 minutes with the support of our home crowd to try and a get a historic result.
"This type of match has a lot of tension and is very balanced. Both teams played with similar characteristics, not willing to take many risks. Now we have to try and finish it off," Mauro added.
The result was a major boost for Monaco coach Didier Deschamps, a former World Cup and European Championship winner with France, while Claudio Ranieri's team needs a 2-0 victory on home soil to make it to its first Champions League final.
The second legs are in two weeks time and the final is at Gelsenkirchen, Germany, May 26.
English league
Norwich City returned to the Premier League for the first time in nine years on Wednesday after Sunderland lost 3-0 at Crystal Palace. The result means that third place Sunderland can't catch division one leader Norwich which is guaranteed one of the two automatic promotion spots.
"It's been a lot of hard work, but I'm proud to be manager of this football club tonight," Norwich manager Nigel Worthington said.
From eastern England, the Canaries have never won the league title or the FA Cup although they twice won the League Cup in 1962 and 1985. Their best finish in the Premier League was third in 1993 but they were relegated two seasons later.
If second place West Bromwich Albion beats already relegated Bradford on Saturday the Baggies also will go up with the Canaries leaving Sunderland to contest the playoffs.
Andy Johnson's 24th minute penalty put Palace ahead at Selhurst Park, Neil Shipperley added a second in the 63rd minute and Dougie Freedman scored the third with 10 minutes to go.
Palace moved up two places to seventh with a good chance of reaching the playoffs which involve the teams who finish third to sixth. The teams
Scottish league
Australian international David Zdrilic scored an injury time winner on Wednesday as Aberdeen ended Celtic's unbeaten Premier League streak with a surprise 2-1 victory at the champion's Celtic Park home.
It was Celtic's first loss in league action in 33 games and came after Martin O'Neill's team had already clinched its third title in four seasons.
Henrik Larsson appeared to have put Celtic on the road to its 30th victory in 33 games with a 15th minute strike. But Bryan Prunty silenced the home fans with an equalizer in the 56th minute and the Dons scored the winner in injury time.
Zdrilic beat Paul Lambert to a long ball and kept control of the ball before firing past 'keeper David Marshall.
The result leaves Celtic with 90 points from 33 games and second place Rangers with 74.
There was a minute's silence before the kickoff as a mark of respect to Ronnie Simpson, Celtic's goalkeeper on the night the Hoops won the European Cup by upsetting Inter Milan in Lisbon in 1967. Simpson died on Monday age 73.
Italian league
National team members Bernardo Corradi and Francesco Totti each scored as Lazio and AS Roma played to a 1-1 draw in a relatively calm edition of the Roman derby.
The game was a replay of the March 21 game between Rome's two teams, which was suspended when a false rumor that police had run over a boy outside the stadium sparked mass chaos and violence. That game was suspended three minutes into the second half with the score tied 0-0.
Corradi put Lazio ahead in the 40th minute, taking advantage of some swift ball movement by Roberto Muzzi and Luciano Zauri that left Roma's defense -- including 'keeper Ivan Pelizzoli -- scrambling for position.
Totti equalized with a penalty shot in the 61st after Corradi was called for a hand ball. The Roma captain celebrated his 18th goal of the season -- tying him with Parma's Alberto Gilardino for second place on the league list behind AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko (21 goals) -- by taking over control of a TV camera behind the goal and swinging it back and forth while looking through the lens at the curve where all the hard-core Roma fans were sitting.
Totti nearly put Roma ahead 10 minutes later with a blistering free kick that Lazio 'keeper Angelo Peruzzi tipped over the goal off the crossbar with an acrobatic save.
The draw moved second-place Roma within eight points of Serie A leader Milan with four games remaining. The two top teams meet in the season's last major match on May 2.
Lazio tied Parma in fifth place, one point behind Inter Milan in a close battle for fourth place and the final Champions League spot.
Lazio outplayed Roma for most of the first half and Roma had the upper hand in a much more exciting second period.
Greek Cup
Olympiakos Piraeus advanced to the Greek Cup final on Wednesday after holding third-division Kastoria to a 1-1 draw and winning 4-1 on aggregate.
Andreas Niniadis converted a penalty for Olympiakos and Nikos Lazaridis scored for Kastoria.
Olympiakos, winner of the first-leg match 3-0 two weeks ago, will play archrival Panathinaikos Athens in the final, scheduled for May 8.
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