PARIS — Mario Balotelli’s love affair with Olympique de Marseille continued Sunday when the Italian striker gave it a 1-0 home win against his former club Nice in Ligue 1.

Balotelli, who joined Marseille in January after three years on the Cote d’Azur, struck midway through the second half to put fourth-placed OM on 47 points from 28 games, three behind third-placed Olympique Lyonnais.

Balotelli is the first Marseille player since former Yugoslavia international Josip Skoblar in 1969 to score in the top flight in his first four appearances at the Stade Velodrome.

The 28-year-old broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute for a dominant Marseille side by heading home a Lucas Ocampos cross.

A late goal by Nicolas Pepe earned Lille a 1-0 win at St Etienne, enabling it to open a seven-point gap over Lyon in the race for second place.

St Etienne finished with nine men after Mathieu Debuchy and Wahbi Khazri were sent off in stoppage time.

Lyon has 50 points with runaway leader Paris St Germain on 71 points with two games in hand.

Real wins at Valladolid

Real Madrid ended a three-game losing streak by winning 4-1 at Real Valladolid in a chaotic game Sunday in which the host had two goals ruled out, missed a penalty and hit the woodwork while the visitors had Casemiro sent off late on.

Karim Benzema scored twice after the interval with a penalty and a header from a corner to give Santiago Solari’s side a 3-1 lead, after Raphael Varane struck in the 34th minute to cancel out Anuar Tuhami’s goal for Valladolid five minutes earlier.

Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric then showed his class to stretch Madrid’s lead in the 85th after Casemiro was dismissed for earning two bookings.

Modric’s goal completed a highly entertaining and eventful match at the Jose Zorilla stadium, which experienced a power cut before kick off, although the game began on schedule.

Sunday’s win took Madrid to 49 points and it is 12 adrift of leader Barca and five behind second-placed Atletico Madrid.

Insigne rescues Napoli

Lorenzo Insigne netted a late equalizer for Napoli in a frustrating 1-1 stalemate at Sassuolo Sunday to leave Carlo Ancelotti’s side trailing league leader Juventus by 18 points as Serie A rival Inter Milan warmed up for next weekend’s derby against AC Milan with a 2-0 win at home to SPAL.

Captain Insigne scored four minutes from time after Domenico Berardi had put midtable Sassuolo into a 52nd minute lead in Modena.

Napoli’s hopes of a first league title since 1990 have faded as Juventus continued its charge toward an eighth consecutive Scudetto with a 4-1 win over Udinese Friday.

Napoli is far behind in second, six points ahead of AC Milan, which beat bottom club Chievo 2-1 Saturday for a fifth league win in a row.

Inter Milan is a further point adrift in fourth.

The race for Champions League football remains tight with Roma, Torino and Atalanta six points behind fourth-placed Inter Milan.

Lazio, with a game in hand, is two points off the Europa league places after a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina, with Ciro Immobile’s 23rd minute goal cancelled out by Luis Muriel (61) for the hosts who are 10th.

Torino continued its impressive form with Andrea Belotti claiming a double to extend their winning run to three games with a 2-1 win at Frosinone.

Walter Mazzarri’s side moves sixth and into the Europa League places, level on 44 points with Roma and Atalanta who beat Sampdoria 2-1.

Bologna earned a valuable three points with a 2-0 win over relegation rivals Cagliari. — Agencies