Schalke draw blank ahead of City clash
BERLIN: Schalke warmed-up for the Champions League visit of Manchester City with a goalless draw at home to fellow Bundesliga strugglers Freiburg on Saturday.
Schalke are winless in their last three Bundesliga games and sit just above the relegation places in 14th spot.
Next up is a huge challenge at home to Pep Guardiola’s Premier League giants Man City in their Champions League last 16 firstleg tie on Wednesday.
Schalke qualified for the Champions League by finishing runners-up to Bayern Munich last season, but despite dreadful recent results, Schalke head coach Domenico Tedesco says they are ready to host City.
“We deserve to have got this far,” Tedesco insisted after Schalke won half their games to finish second behind Porto in their Champions League group.
“We have to prepare well and everyone needs to be at 100 per cent. We believe we have a chance — otherwise there would be no point playing.”
Both Schalke and Freiburg finished with ten men as the Royal Blues played for nearly 50 minutes without defensive midfielder Suat Serdar, sent off for a firsthalf foul.
In the dying stages, Freiburg defender Christian Guenter was dismissed for a second yellow card.
Meanwhile, Claudio Pizarro, the Bundesliga’s record foreign goal-scorer, claimed another milestone when he became the league’s oldest scorer.
Aged 40 years and 136 days, the Peru striker claimed his 195th Bundesliga goal in dramatic fashion to equalise with the last kick of the game in Werder Bremen’s 1-1 draw at Hertha Berlin.
League leaders Borussia Dortmund are at bottom side Nuremberg today.
They are two points ahead of Bayern Munich, who won 3-2 at Augsburg on Friday.
MILAN: Krzysztof Piatek hit a wonder goal and grabbed a second as AC Milan came back to defeat Atalanta 3-1 on Saturday and stay on course for the Champions League.
Piatek took his season’s Serie A total to 17, just two behind Juventus’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Polish star now has scored six times in four starts for Milan since moving from Genoa in the January transfer window to replace Gonzalo Higuain.
“I was being marked closely, but I knew the ball would come into the box sooner or later, so I made the movement to ensure I got there first,” Piatek told Milan TV. “I am happy with the two goals today and want to keep going like this. I am a striker, so I’d like to score in every game.”
Milan fans have taken Piatek to their hearts, even devising a new chant “Piatek! Pum pum pum pum!” to mirror the striker’s goal celebration of a pistol-shooter.
Gennaro Gattuso’s Milan stay in fourth spot but they now have 42 points, four more than Atalanta, Roma and Lazio.
PARIS: Monaco climbed out of the Ligue 1 relegation places on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Nantes, while Mario Balotelli scored for the third time in four games for a resurgent Marseille.
After failing to win at home all season until the start of February, Monaco made it back-toback victories at the Stade Louis II as Gelson Martins fired in a Rony Lopes cross on 13 minutes.
Portugal international Martins, also on target in last week’s 2-2 draw at Montpellier, has scored twice in three league appearances for Monaco following his arrival on loan from Atletico Madrid.
Leonardo Jardim’s side moved up to 16th and two points clear of Dijon in the relegation playoff place.
Marseille defeated Amiens 2-0 to record three straight wins for the first time this season and jump to fourth, six points behind Lyon in the final Champions League spot.
Balotelli failed to find the net in 10 matches for Nice this season but has found his goalscoring touch since his switch to Marseille last month.
Lyon overcame bottom side Guingamp 2-1 on Friday in their final outing before tomorrow’s Champions League last 16 first leg at home to Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.