European roundup-United close on title, Real extend lead

Manchester United took another step towards retaining their Premier League title with a 2-1 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Real Madrid moved nine points clear at the top of the Primera Liga in Spain after a 1-0 win over Real Murcia while their main rivals faltered.

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ENGLAND

Manchester United are looking a good bet to retain the Premier League title after they overcame the considerable hurdle of Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford to move six points clear with four games remaining.

The champions trailed to a handled goal by Emmanuel Adebayor but hit back with a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty and won it with an Owen Hargreaves free kick.

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Chelsea are six points behind and even if they beat Wigan Athletic in a game in hand on Monday, United’s goal difference is so good that they could lose the top two’s Stamford Bridge showdown on April 26 and still take the title with wins over Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and Wigan.

Arsenal, who led the league by five points two months ago, are out of the running in third, nine points adrift.

Liverpool took a firm grip on fourth and the final Champions League place with a 3-1 home win over Blackburn that took them five points clear of Everton.

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SPAIN

Real Madrid took a step closer to retaining the Spanish title on Sunday after they recovered from a first-half sending off to clinch a 1-0 win over Real Murcia.

With Villarreal losing 1-0 at Almeria and Barcelona drawing 2-2 at Recreativo Huelva on Saturday, the weekend’s results left Real with an increased advantage of nine points at the top of the table.

Bernd Schuster’s side lead the standings on 69 points, Barca follow on 60 and Villarreal have 59 with six matches left to play.

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ITALY

Inter Milan avoided a potential banana skin by beating fourth-placed Fiorentina 2-0 to maintain their four-point lead with five games to go.

AS Roma in second continue to pile on the pressure but they did it the hard way at Udinese, coming back from 1-0 down to win 3-1 thanks to second-half goals from Mirko Vucinic, Rodrigo Taddei and Ludovic Giuly.

Juventus, 10 behind Roma in third, triumphed in the big match of the weekend when they overcame AC Milan 3-2 on Saturday.

The defeats for Fiorentina and Milan change nothing in the battle for the final Champions League spot, with the Florence club four points ahead.

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GERMANY

Bayern Munich moved closer to winning their 21st German championship on Sunday by thrashing Borussia Dortmund 5-0 and opening up a 10-point lead over second-placed Werder Bremen.

Bayern were 4-0 up after 22 minutes, Italy striker Luca Toni scoring twice after Lukas Podolski and Ze Roberto had given them a two-goal lead inside 10 minutes. Andreas Ottl got the fifth midway through the second half.

Bayern are top with 60 points, with six matches remaining. Werder Bremen, after a 5-1 win over Schalke 04 on Saturday, have 50 points, two ahead of Schalke in third. Schalke sacked coach Mirko Slomka on Sunday.

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FRANCE

Argentine forward Fernando Cavenaghi struck twice to give Girondins Bordeaux a 2-1 win over Caen on Sunday that closed the gap on Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Lyon to four points.

Second-placed Bordeaux, who were thrashed 5-0 at Caen earlier this season, moved on to 64 points from 33 games, four behind Lyon, with five matches left.

Lyon, chasing a seventh consecutive title, were held to a 1-1 home draw by Stade Rennes on Saturday.

Olympique Marseille boosted their Champions League hopes with a 2-1 win at relegated Metz on Saturday that put them in third place ahead of Nancy. Both teams are on 55 points but Marseille have a better goal difference.

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NETHERLANDS

PSV Eindhoven were made to wait for the Dutch championship when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Twente Enschede on Sunday.

Second-placed Ajax Amsterdam’s match at Groningen was postponed after paper thrown on to the pitch by the home crowd caught fire and caused an evacuation of part of the stands. The match will now be played on Wednesday at 1830 GMT.

Ajax are six points behind leaders PSV Eindhoven. If the Amsterdam side failed to beat Groningen, PSV would clinch their fourth successive league title