European Football Saturday Round-up

French Ligue 1

Paris St Germain's Ligue 1 title charge suffered a surprise blow as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat away to the 10 men of relegation-battling Reims.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a goal controversially disallowed early in the second half, and Reims then had Christopher Glombard sent off for a second bookable offence before the hour mark.

But Reims still ran out winners as Grzegorz Krychowiak scored the only goal in the 64th minute.

The result means Lyon can move level on points with PSG by beating Brest away from home on Sunday.

Nice paid the price for the first-half dismissal of Valentin Eysseric as St Etienne moved into third place with an emphatic 4-0 win.

St Etienne led early on through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty but the game turned on the 23rd-minute dismissal of Eysseric, whose ugly challenge on Jeremy Clement spelled the end of the night for both men.

Nice held out with 10 men until the break only for the floodgates to open in the second half, with Yohan Mollo scoring in between Brandao's brace.

Nancy climbed off the bottom of the table after upsetting Sochaux 2-1 to claim only their fourth win of the season.

First-half goals from Benjamin Moukandjo and Florent Zitte put Nancy in charge, and Sochaux halved the deficit through Sloan Privat's acrobatic effort in stoppage time at the end of the game.

Toifilou Maoulida scored the only goal as Bastia beat Ajaccio in a fiery Corsican derby but it was the dismissals of five players, four in the final minute, which will create the headlines.

Maoulida struck early in the second half, with Ajaccio's hopes of a comeback not helped by a second yellow card for Mathieu Chalme 10 minutes from time.

However, what had been an entertaining match was overshadowed by events in the dying moments when Dennis Oliech's dismissal for an ugly challenge on home goalkeeper Mickael Landreau sparked a brawl which resulted in red cards for team-mate Benjamin Andre and Bastia duo Florian Thauvin and Jerome Rothen.

Evian played out an uninspiring goalless draw with Toulouse, while Gael Danic's 79th-minute penalty ensured Valenciennes claimed a 1-1 draw at Lorient.

The hosts had taken a third-minute lead through Kevin Monnet-Paquet's low strike, but Danic slotted home from the spot late on after Lorient defender Arnaud Le Lan had handled in the area.

Scottish Cup

Celtic booked their place in the semi-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup as Anthony Stokes' goal gave them a 2-1 victory against St Mirren in Paisley.

Stand-in Hoops skipper Joe Ledley opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a header before a mistake by Parkhead left-back Emilio Izaguirre in the 13th minute allowed Esmael Goncalves an easy chance to level.

However, Stokes restored the visitors' lead in the 21st minute with a close-range header and at the end of a decent game it was enough to put Neil Lennon's side into Monday's draw at Hampden.

Celtic got the revenge they wanted following their defeat the Buddies in the Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final at Hampden in January and will be boosted ahead of the second leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Juventus on Wednesday night.

Falkirk joined the Bhoys in the last four with a 2-1 victory over Hamilton at New Douglas Park.

Blair Alston struck just before half-time to give the Bairns the lead against the run of play and he doubled their lead with a stunning effort from the edge of the box after 71 minutes.

Substitute Andy Ryan pulled one back for the hosts however they were unable to grab a leveller in the closing stages.

A disappointing afternoon for Billy Reid's side was completed when Jonathan Page was sent-off in injury-time.

Turkish Super Lig

Super Lig pacesetters Galatasaray were held to a goalless draw at Eskisehirspor on Saturday, leaving the door open for second-placed Fenerbahce to cut into the leaders' advantage on Sunday.

Fenerbahce could now move to within four points of their arch rivals if they can pick up a fifth victory in six league matches, although they face a tough trip to third-placed Besiktas.

At the other end of the table, Orduspor and Elazigspor boosted their survival hopes with victories over Karabukspor and Akhisar Belediye, respectively.

Orduspor moved up to 11th with a 3-2 home win over Karabukspor, goals from Ali Camdali (six and 54) and Samil Cinaz (73) cancelling out efforts from Karabukspor duo Ilhan Parlak (42) and Lomana LuaLua (45).

Third-bottom Elazigspor, meanwhile, moved to within one point of safety after earning a 1-0 win at second-bottom Akhisar Belediye, Serdar Gurler's 48th-minute goal settling the contest.

Dutch Eredivisie

PSV Eindhoven and Ajax both picked up hard-fought victories this evening to ensure the gap separating the Dutch powerhouses at the top of the Eredivisie remains at two points.

Leaders PSV far from had things all their own way as they needed an injury-time strike by Mark van Bommel to made certain of a 2-0 win at home to second-bottom VVV-Venlo.

Memphis Depay had handed the hosts the lead inside three minutes but VVV refused to lie down and the match was in the balance until Van Bommel struck at the death.

Ajax stayed in touch as they won 2-0 at FC Twente, whose own title aspirations are now all but over as they slipped nine points off the pace on the back of their seventh match without a win.

Alfred Schreuder took charge of Twente after Steve McClaren quit earlier this week, but the interim boss could not deliver a first win since December 21 as Ajax claimed the points with goals from Niklas Moisander in the fourth minute and fellow defender Toby Alderweireld after 25.

The victory takes the Amsterdammers three points clear of surprise title aspirants Vitesse Arnhem, who had pulled level with victory over FC Utrecht on Friday night.

Heerenveen pulled seven points clear of the relegation play-off zone with a 2-1 win at NAC Breda.

NAC looked on course for the points thanks to Nemanja Gudelj's 49th-minute strike, but Alfred Finnbogason struck a quickfire double inside the final 10 minutes to lift Heerenveen to the win.

PEC Zwolle also put some daylight between themselves and the bottom three as they moved four points clear of danger with a 2-0 win at home to bottom side Willem II.

Goals from Arsenio Valpoort (57) and Mateusz Klich (60) sealed the win as Willem II remain cast adrift at the foot of the standings, nine points from safety with nine games remaining.

Portuguese Primeira Liga

Porto handed the initiative to Benfica in the Liga title race tonight after a goalless draw at Sporting.

The battle for supremacy has been intense between the leading two teams, and although Porto's point from their trip to Lisbon edged them ahead at the top of the table, it left the door open for Benfica to surge ahead.

Benfica tackle Beira-Mar on Sunday, and can pull two points clear. Both Porto and Benfica remain unbeaten in the league this season, after 21 and 20 matches respectively.

Porto had a man advantage for the closing 12 minutes against Sporting, after defender Marcos Rojo was sent off, but could not make it count.

Pacos Ferreira, who are out of the title race barring both Porto and Benfica suffering astonishing collapses, tightened their grip on third place with a 2-0 home win over Vitoria Setubal.

Both goals came from forward Cicero who netted after 39 and 84 minutes.

Vitoria Setubal were down to 10 men from the 53rd minute after Paulo Tavares was sent off.

Greek Superleague

Olympiacos stretched their lead at the top of the Superleague to nine points with a 4-0 win at OFI Crete.

Rafik Djebbour was on target in either half for the visitors, with Panagiotis Vlachodimos (69) and Tasos Papazoglou (86) also on the scoresheet.

Olympiacos will see their lead return to six points if second-placed Asteras Tripoli win their game in hand against Giannina on Sunday.

Atromitos strengthened their grip on fourth with a 1-0 win at Panthrakikos, Evangelos Mantzios with the only goal after 38 minutes, while bottom side Kerkyra were 2-1 victors over Platanias.

Leonidas Kyvelidis put Kerkyra in charge with goals after three and 36 minutes, while Nikola Beljic (70) pulled one back for Platanias.

Danish Superliga

FC Midtjylland boosted their survival hopes with a narrow home win over relegation rivals Sonderjyske

Petter Andersson scored the only goal of the game after 32 minutes as Midtjylland made it back-to-back wins in the Superliga to move six points above the bottom two.

Sonderjyske, meanwhile, remain in ninth spot in the 12-team league, two points clear of the drop zone.

Scottish Premier League

Michael Higdon grabbed his 20th goal of the season as Motherwell secured a 2-1 win at Hearts in the Scottish Premier League.

Hearts' new interim management team of Gary Locke and Darren Murray were taking charge for the first time following manager John McGlynn's departure on Thursday, but their side were left with a mountain to climb after conceding twice in the opening eight minutes.

Higdon swept in the opener for Motherwell before Dylan McGowan was credited with scoring an own goal when he failed to keep out a Nicky Law effort.

John Sutton pulled one back after the break for Hearts, but Motherwell held on to cement second place in the league and condemn the Tynecastle side to their fifth straight loss.

Ross County and Inverness drew a blank in a scrappy Highland derby at Global Energy Stadium.

Chances were few and far between throughout the 90 minutes with neither side able to dictate proceedings at any stage of the match.

Swiss Super League

FC Sion missed the chance to climb to third in the Super League after a 3-1 defeat at FC Zurich.

The hosts led by two goals at the break thanks to Josip Drmic (13) and Marco Schonbachler (38).

Sion raised hopes of a fightback when Yannick N'Djeng netted in the 62nd minute but they were extinguished within 60 seconds as Drmic added his second.

The day's other match between Lucerne and FC Thun ended goalless.