Marseille misses chance to move up

PARIS — Marseille paid the price for leaving key players on the bench as it lost away to struggling Metz 1-0 in the French league Friday. A draw would have moved Marseille up to fifth place, but it remains in sixth ahead of this weekend’s matches, Metz climbed out of the relegation zone and up to 15th place thanks to midfielder Yann Jouffre’s winner in the 83rd minute. Celta held by Alaves to 0-0 Celta Vigo couldn’t manage more than a scoreless home draw against surprising Alaves in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals Thursday. The winner of next Wednesday’s return game in Basque Country will face two-time defending champion Barcelona or Atletico Madrid. Barcelona won 2-1 in Madrid Wednesday. Both teams are seeking their first Copa title. Celta is a four-time runner-up. Alaves has never been to the final. Papadopoulos scores On loan from Bayer Leverkusen, defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos scored against the side to earn Hamburger SV a 1-0 victory in the Bundesliga Friday. Papadopoulos joined Hamburg in the winter transfer window, arriving via Leipzig, where Leverkusen sent him on loan at the beginning of the season after his previous season was marred by injuries. Papadopoulos struck with a quarter-hour remaining, heading inside the far post after Nicolai Mueller lobbed in a hopeful cross. He ran to the corner to celebrate before running to embrace under-pressure Hamburg coach Markus Gisdol, familiar from their time together at Schalke. The goal lifted Hamburg, which had lost both league games this year, into the relegation playoff place ahead of the rest of the 19th round, while Leverkusen faces a mini-crisis after its second successive defeat. — Agencies