Mario Gomez came off the bench to score a late equaliser as Fiorentina grabbed a precious 1-1 draw at Juventus in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie yesterday.

The German striker has just returned to action for Fiorentina after he was sidelined for five months with a knee injury and the towering striker gave a glimpse of what his team were missing 11 minutes from time when he controlled David Pizarro’s pass and beat Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon from a close angle.

It was a hard blow for Juventus who had looked on their way to an important victory when Arturo Vidal put them ahead with a thumping drive after only three minutes.

The Bianconeri had enough chances to add to their tally but their profligacy in front of goal came back to haunt them as Gomez struck late on to put Fiorentina back in the contention ahead of next week’s second leg in Florence.

Tottenham’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals looked all but doomed after the English Premier League side slumped to a 3-1 home defeat to Benfica.

The Portuguese outfit raced into a two-goal advantage when Rodrigo put them ahead after 29 minutes before Luisao headed in the second goal on 58 minutes.

Christian Eriksen pulled a goal back for Spurs but Luisao struck again to leave Tottenham with an uphill task to turn the tie in their favour ahead of next week’s second leg in Lisbon.

Jackson Martinez’s superb finish and Helton’s agile goalkeeping helped twice winners Porto beat Napoli 1-0 at home .

Porto’s preparations for the tie were undermined when they parted company with coach Paulo Fonseca last week, but they still looked a well-drilled unit against Rafa Benitez’s tactically-wily Italian side.

The Portuguese team survived an early second-half onslaught from Napoli thanks to the quick reflexes of keeper Helton, who kept out a drilled shot on the turn from Gonzalo Higuain and blocked Raul Albiol’s header from close range.

Minutes later they went ahead when Martinez showed a fine scorer’s instinct to drop off his marker at the far post and rifle a volley into the net from 15 metres.

Napoli could have drawn level in stoppage time but Duvan Zapata slid the ball wide when picked out unmarked by a cross from the left.

Valencia played more than 60 minutes with 10 men but still beat Ludogorets 3-0 in Bulgaria as the goals dried up for the previous round’s big scorers Salzburg who were held to a 0-0 draw at Basel.

Last 16, first legs

Basel vs Salzburg - 0-0
Porto vs Napoli - 1-0
Ludogorets vs Valencia - 0-3
Alkmaar vs Anzhi - 1-0
Juventus vs Fiorentina - 1-1
Lyon vs Viktoria Plzen - 4-1
Sevilla vs Real Betis - 0-2
Tottenham vs Benfica - 1-3

Second legs: March 20