AC Milan's Christian Pulisic (left) plays the ball during the Europa League round of 16 first leg soccer match between AC Milan and Slavia Praha at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, March 7, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

MILAN - AC Milan battled to a 4-2 win over Slavia Prague in an entertaining first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie at San Siro Stadium on Thursday.

Milan opened the scoring through Oliver Giroud's close-range header from Rafael Leao's cross in the 34th minute before the Czechs equalized when David Doudera's long-range volley went in off the post past keeper Mike Maignan.

Tijjani Reijnders restored the lead for the hosts with a fine low shot from Alessandro Florenzi's pass, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek headed home to make it 3-1 seconds before halftime, Florenzi assisted again from a corner.

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Slavia pulled one back in the 65th minute through a fierce strike from Ivan Schranz, but Christian Pulisic sealed victory for Milan five minutes from time after a great solo run from Leao.

The visitors had looked solid early in the game, but their hopes of a first-ever triumph in Italy were reduced as El Hadji Malick Diouf picked up a red card for a heavy tackle on Pulisic in the 26th minute.

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In another late kickoff, Freiburg avoided a third straight defeat to West Ham United as substitute Michael Gregoritsch's late goal earned the Germans a 1-0 home win.

A double by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang helped Olympique de Marseille to a resounding 4-0 win over Villarreal, down to 10 men after Alberto Moreno was shown a second yellow card in the second half.

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Jordan Veretout grabbed the lead for the hosts in the 23rd minute before Villarreal's Yerson Mosquera netted an own goal five minutes later.

Portuguese champions Benfica twice fought back to salvage a 2-2 draw against Rangers, courtesy of an Angel Di Maria penalty and a Connor Goldson own goal, leaving the tie wide open for the return leg in Glasgow.