Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri has conceded the Premier League title to Arsenal.
Chelsea's chances slipped badly in a scoreless draw against Middlesbrough on Saturday at Stamford Bridge. The loss came a day after Arsenal rallied to beat Liverpool 4-2.
PHOTO: AFP
"They [Arsenal] have great character and they deserve this title," Ranieri said. "Well done Arsenal."
PHOTO: AP
The race is now for second, and here No. 2 Chelsea also lost ground to third-place Manchester United. The Reds came from behind to win 2-1 at Birmingham City with second-half goals from Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and Frenchman Louis Saha.
Chelsea trails Arsenal by six points, but leads Man United by six.
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Hibernian and Partick picked up victories. In the semifinals of the Scottish Cup, Inverness and Dunfermline drew 1-1.
Gary Caldwell, Kevin Thomson and Derek Riordan scored in Hibs's 3-0 victory over Kilmarnock.
In Partick's 1-0 win over Hearts, Andy Thomson got the decider in the 49th. The victory ended Hearts' 11-game unbeaten string.
Paul Ritchie gave Inverness a 1-0 lead with a goal in first-half injury time, but Craig Brewster equalized for Dunfermline in the 67th.
SPANISH LEAGUE
Brazil striker Ronaldinho scored one goal before being sent off as FC Barcelona moved with striking distance of the leaders by beating Valladolid 3-1.
Javier Saviola and Andres Iniesta also scored for the Catalan club, which is unbeaten in 11 league matches. Oscar Gonzalez got one back for the hosts.
Ronaldinho was ejected in the 53rd minute after getting his second yellow card for heading the ball out of Valladolid goalkeeper Albano Bizarri's right hand.
The win pushed Barcelona into third place with a game in hand and 59 points, three more than fourth-place Deportivo de La Coruna, which plays Sunday. Real Madrid is still in first place with 67 points, followed by Valencia with 66.
Saviola got Barcelona on the scoreboard in just the second minute off a cross from Dutchman Michael Reiziger. The Argentine then set up Ronaldinho's goal in the 31st minute with a cross from the left that the Brazilian volleyed home.
After Ronaldinho was ejected, Valladolid took advantage of the numerical advantage as Oscar rose above the defense to head the ball into the net from a corner in the 66th.
Barcelona held its nerve, however, and Iniesta buried his first goal of the season five minutes from time.
Valladolid, which was missing suspended Spain international midfielder Jose Caminero, needed a win to lift itself out of the relegation zone.
Bundesliga
Werder Bremen moved a step closer to the league title, but only after a late and controversial penalty helped the club edge Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0.
Defender Ivo Ismael stroked the penalty inside the right post in the 80th minute against relegation-threatened Frankfurt, saving Bremen's shaky performance and keeping his club seven points clear in the table.
Bayern Munich, still waiting for Bremen to stumble, got two more goals from prolific Dutch striker Roy Makaay to win 2-1 against Schalke, a team that entered fifth in the table.
With just six rounds to play, time is running out on Bayern's hopes of a 19th German title, but the club still insists Bremen has a case of nerves.
"Of course they're feeling the pressure," Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. "They're not playing nearly as well as they did, they have tough matches ahead and Bayern is a team that can win all its games."
Even Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf acknowledged his team didn't play well against Frankfurt, which followed two draws that has melted its lead from 11 to seven points over Bayern.
Bremen's attack, which has generated the league's most goals, did earn more chances against Frankfurt, but few really challenged the 17th-place side's defense.
As it appeared Bremen wouldn't win or even deserved to win the contest, reserve forward Nelson Valdez got clear and was pushed from behind by a Frankfurt defender, leading to the penalty call. TV replays backed up Frankfurt's anger at the call.
Bremen stars Ailton, who tops the league with 25 goals, and midfielder Johan Micoud were so ineffective that Schaaf pulled both off the pitch in the second half.
The rest of Saturday's matches were dominated by battles for UEFA Cup berths or hopes of avoiding relegation.
Bayer Leverkusen was the day's big winner, blasting Kaiserslautern 6-0 to move just two points behind Stuttgart for third place, and putting some distance between it and other UEFA Cup contenders.
Makaay continues to wow the Bundesliga with his cold-blooded scoring. Last week the Dutchman reached 20 goals in fewer Bundesliga minutes than anyone in history besides former German great Uwe Seeler.
After Sven Vermant shook up Munich by hitting from the spot in the fourth minute, Makaay again saved Bayern. He had three chances during the match and wasted just one.
The Dutchman punched in Ze Roberto's cross in the eight minute, then followed by taking Bastian Schweinsteiger's 64th-minute pass with a defender at his back, spinning and rifling the game-winner inside the right post.
Leverkusen recorded its most lopsided home victory in history against Kaiserslautern, a rout in every sense of the world as it remained fourth. When Franca volleyed in his second goal in the 55th minute, Leverkusen already led 5-0.
But two other UEFA Cup contenders also posted convincing victories. Dortmund's win against Hamburg was paced by goals by Torsten Frings and Jan Koller while Bochum thrashed 1860 Munich 4-0.
The UEFA Cup battle now pits Leverkusen against three clubs from the Ruhr Valley, Germany's mining region. Dortmund, Schalke and Bochum all play within a few kilometers of each other.
ITALIAN LEAGUE
Serie A leader AC Milan benefited from a questionable call in the 84th minute that led to Andrea Pirlo's winning penalty kick in a 1-0 win against Empoli.
Milan played much of the match at San Siro as if it were still in shock from its Champions League collapse against Deportivo de La Coruna earlier in the week and may have won only due to referee Gianluca Paparesta's call six minutes from the end.
Paparesta expelled Empoli goalkeeper Daniele Balli for charging Milan's Danish striker Jon Dahl Tomasson as he was gathering a lob pass from Massimo Ambrosini. Replays, however, showed that the contact was minimal and did not influence the course of play.
Despite vehement protests from Empoli, which is fighting to avoid relegation, Paparesta maintained his decision and Pirlo calmly converted penalty kick into the upper left corner in the 86th after backup 'keeper Mario Cassano came on to replace Balli.
Empoli finished with only 10 men.
With the victory, Milan maintained a nine-point lead ahead of second-place AS Roma, which beat Chievo 3-1 behind goals from Norwegian international John Carew, Antonio Cassano and an own-goal by Chievo defender Andrea Barzagli.
FRENCH LEAGUE
Leader Monaco stumbled to a 0-0 tie away to Lens on Saturday and handed the initiative back to Lyon in the French first division title race.
Although Monaco, which midweek conquered Real Madrid to advance to the Champions League semifinals, has a two point lead at the top of the table, Lyon can take first place if it wins at Strasbourg today.
Monaco has 65 points, Lyon 63 and Paris Saint-Germain, also on 63 but with an inferior goals difference, is third after winning 2-1 at Nice.
At Nice, veteran striker Lilian Laslandes scored in the 15th minute and PSG had goalkeeper Jerome Alonzo sent off early in the second-half.
But 10-man PSG rallied and pulled level in the 80th minute when defender Jose Pierre-Fanfan headed in a corner, and grabbed the win in the 87th when Argentine midfielder Juan Pablo Sorin headed in.
Portuguese league
FC Porto recovered from its first loss of the season by nipping Maritimo 1-0, while Sporting and Benfica also won.
Ricardo Carvalho scored the lone goal in the 84th minute for Porto, which advanced to the Champions Cup semifinals on Wednesday to stay alive for a possible treble. The defending league and cup champions will face Benfica in the cup final.
Liedson scored three goals as Sporting crushed Amadora 4-0. Marius Niculae also scored.
Benfica stayed in third place after downing Pacos Ferreira 2-1. Nuno Gomes and Geovanni scored a goal each for benfica, while Ze Manuel replied for the visitors.
Porto leads the league with 74 points, followed by Sporting with 70 and Benfica with 64.
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