Muntari strike puts Milan back on top of Serie A

(CNN) -- AC Milan returned to the top of Serie A with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Chievo Tuesday, bouncing back from a shock home defeat at the weekend.

The Italian champions surrendered the Serie A lead to Juventus after losing 2-1 to Fiorentina, but may again drop to second if the unbeaten Turin side beat Lazio on Wednesday and restore a one-point advantage.

Ghana international midfielder Sulley Muntari scored the only goal in in the opening few minutes in wet Verona, where Milan were missing a string of regulars through injury and suspension. Coach Massimiliano Allegri gave teenage fullback Mattia De Sciglio his first Serie A start.

Muntari scored from more than 20 meters out, beating home goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino on eight minutes.

Chievo had plenty of chances to at least level, with Sergio Pellissier having excellent opportunities in each half.

"Many people were delighted we fell to Fiorentina but we've got back up," Allegri told the match broadcaster.

"We knew that tonight if we lost or failed to win we could be out of the title race."

In the English Premier League, 10-man Liverpool beat relegation haunted Blackburn 3-2 at Ewood Park to end a run of three defeats and a draw.

Striker Andy Carroll scored an injury-time winner for Kenny Dalglish's men, who had led 2-0 through a Maxi Rodriguez double.

But a red card for goalkeeper Alexander Doni -- himself a replacement for the suspended Pepe Reina -- left the visitors on the back foot.

Third-choice Brad Jones came on to face the resulting penalty and was immediately a hero as he saved from Ayegbeni Yakubu's weak effort.

Yakubu made amends by heading home to cut the deficit and then leveled from the spot in the second half after a mistake by Jones led to a penalty.

Blackburn pressed for the winner to help pull clear of the bottom three, but instead Carroll rose to head home in added time to put Liverpool within a point of seventh-placed Merseyside rivals Everton ahead of this weekend's FA Cup semifinal clash.

In the Bundesliga, Borussia Monchengladbach's European Champions League qualification hopes faded after a 2-2 draw at 10-man Werder Bremen.

Sebastian Boenisch saw red for Bremen after Markus Rosenberg had put the hosts ahead.

Mike Hanke's double put the visitors ahead until Naldo's 74th-minute equalizer for Bremen.

The result left Monchengladbach four points adrift of fourth-placed Schalke, who have a game in hand.