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Red Devils hand Magpies another loss

Newcastle United's Andy O'Brien, left, is challenged by Manchester United's Alan Smith during their match at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on Sunday. PHOTO: EPA

Wayne Rooney scored to help Manchester United to a 2-1 win over Newcastle in the English Premier League on Sunday -- its second win over the Magpies in as many weeks.

The win kept Manchester United in touch with Arsenal in the race for second. Manchester United is one point behind second-place Arsenal, which hosts Tottenham today.

If Arsenal loses, it will hand Chelsea its first title in 50 years. If not, Chelsea can clinch by winning at Bolton next Saturday.

In Sunday's other match, Lomano LuaLua scored twice in five minutes as Portsmouth beat Southampton 4-1 to keep its local rival bottom of the standings.

Manchester United dominated in beating Newcastle 4-1 in the FA Cup semifinals last week.

On Sunday, it gifted Newcastle the lead.

A weak goal kick by Manchester United 'keeper Tim Howard was intercepted by Darren Ambrose, who ran forward to score past the diving US international in the 27th minute.

"I think they did get affected by the Newcastle goal because it came out of the blue," Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said.

Bayer Leverkusen's Dimitar Berbatov, left, and Werder Bremen's Petri Pasanen battle during their Bundesliga match in Leverkusen, Germany on Sunday. PHOTO: EPA

"It was a bad kick out from Tim. There was a bit of slackness there and jolted us a bit. Until that point, it was as if we were running away with it."

Manchester United then lost defender Gabriel Heinze to injury in the 37th minute when he landed awkwardly on his ankle after challenging Shola Ameobi for a header. He was replaced by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Rooney leveled in the 57th with a powerful, swerving, dipping volley from just outside the box, a goal Ferguson described as "phenomenal."

"I was ready to take him off because he was injured in the first half," Ferguson said.

"He just hobbled on the remainder of the game. But while he's on the pitch, he's such a threat and that's why we kept him on."

Rooney was treated for a bruised leg after the match.

Defender Wes Brown added Manchester United's winner in the 74th, leaping to head his first league goal for Manchester United.

Manchester United was without Ruud van Nistelrooy, who didn't even make the bench after sustaining an ankle injury in training.

It was Newcastle's fifth successive loss, including the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United and a 4-1 defeat at Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup quarterfinal second leg.

Chelsea has 85 points, followed by Arsenal on 71 and Manchester United on 70. Everton is fourth with 58 points, four ahead of crosstown rival Liverpool.

At the bottom, Southampton has 28 points, West Brom has 29, with Norwich and Crystal Palace on 30 points.

Stilian Petrov and Craig Bellamy scored to give Celtic a 2-1 win at rival Rangers and a five-point lead atop the Premier League.

Petrov scored with a 21st-minute header from Didier Agathe's cross, before getting hit on the head by an object thrown from the crowd while celebrating in front of Rangers fans. He was unhurt and continued to play after receiving treatment, but was booked by referee Stuart Dougal for his celebrations.

Bellamy made it 2-0 after 34 minutes with a solo effort, running into the Rangers half, and getting around defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos to chip the ball past Rangers goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus.

Bellamy was then shown a yellow card for his celebration, also in front of Rangers fans.

Celtics Jackie McNamara denied Nacho Novo in the 71st minute with a block on the line and Waterreus dived to stop a Stanislav Varga effort.

Rangers pulled a goal back in the 88th minute, with Steven Thompson scoring after a goalmouth scramble.

"There are 12 points to play for and Rangers can come back," Celtic goalkeeper David Thompson said. "They would have liked to have won here, it is their home ground, but the boys were up for it."

Sunday's match was the sixth time the Old Firm played this season. Celtic's win made it three wins apiece.

"Had we have dropped any points today -- especially after our first-half performance -- we would have been very disappointed," Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said. "We had to be very, very strong, we had to be good and I thought we deserved to win it."

With four games of the season, Celtic is on course to win the league for the fourth time in five seasons. Before that, Rangers had won 11 out of 12.

"It is difficult to see Celtic losing it now, but we have got to keep going," Rangers manager Alex McLeish said. "In the end, Celtic's experience was the key but the players gave everything.

"We have run them close but we are not giving up yet."

It's 20 years since any other club won the championship -- Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in 1985. Rangers has 50 titles, Celtic 38 and the next best is four, shared by Aberdeen, Hibernian and Hearts.

Ludovic Giuly scored twice to help leader FC Barcelona to a 4-0 victory over Malaga and leave it three wins away from its first league title since 1999.

Defender Oleguer Presas and substitute Gerard Lopez also netted at Malaga's La Rosaleda stadium as Barcelona restored its six-point advantage over second-place Real Madrid with five games remaining.

After 33 rounds, Barcelona has 75 points, while Real Madrid, which beat Villarreal 2-1 on Saturday, has 69.

"We controlled the match and the play. They only got close in the first 15 minutes and then, by concentrating, we got an important win. I have to congratulate my players," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard was quoted as saying by news agency Efe.

In another match, Sevilla regained third place with a 3-1 win at Athletic Bilbao.

Espanyol beat Zaragoza 3-1, Real Sociedad edged host Real Betis 3-2, Valencia downed lowly Albacete 2-0, while Deportivo La Coruna lost 4-1 against visiting Racing Santander.

Sevilla has 55 points, two more than Espanyol. Villarreal and Valencia are next with 52, although Villarreal has a game in hand. Betis drops to seventh with 51.

Barcelona was boosted by the return of league-leading scorer with 21 goals, Samuel Eto'o, who hadn't played since hurting his right knee on April 10 during Barcelona's 4-2 defeat at Real Madrid.

An exhausted looking Bremen was beaten by Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in a severe blow to the team's hopes of returning to the Champions League next season.

Jacek Kyzynowek scored in the third minute and Marko Babic in the 37th as Bayer Leverkusen sent the Bundesliga's defending champion reeling to its third loss in four matches.

In Sunday's second match, Moenchengladbach salvaged a 0-0 draw against FC Nuremberg, thanks to the saves of US 'keeper Kasey Keller.

Bremen's players collapsed on the field after a loss that left the team five points off a Champions League berth with three rounds to play.

On Wednesday, the team lost an exhausting and disappointing German Cup semifinal to Schalke in a penalty shootout thriller.

Three Champions League berths remain to be decided in the Bundesliga and three certain UEFA Cup berths.

Bayern has 65 points, Schalke 56, Stuttgart 55 and Berlin 53. Bremen and Hamburg lead the UEFA Cup hopefuls with 50, with Leverkusen at 49.

Pavel Nedved scored in the closing minutes as Juventus won 1-0 at Lazio to restore a two-way leadership with defending champion AC Milan in the Serie A with five rounds to play.

Czech midfielder Nedved beat two defenders inside the area and volleyed the winner in the 85th minute to make up for the absence of strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero.

Ibrahimovic is suspended, Trezeguet is nursing an ankle injury and Del Piero limped off the field during the first half.

The win at Stadio Olimpico lifted Juventus to 73 points, tied with AC Milan, which beat Parma 3-0 at San Siro Saturday.

Lazio, which was left with 41 points in ninth place, claimed a first-half penalty but did not cause any serious problem to Juventus' defense in a lackluster match.

Juventus and AC Milan piled up a 14-point lead over third-place Inter Milan, which tumbled 2-1 at Messina and was left with 59.

Midfielder Juninho scored his 12th league goal of the season as Lyon coasted to a 3-0 win at Auxerre on and moved closer to a fourth straight first division title.

Ghana midfielder Michael Essien and Brazil defender Cris added further goals as Lyon moved 11 points clear of second-placed Lille.

Lyon, looking to join Saint-Etienne and Marseille as the only French teams to have won four consecutive titles, has 69 points from 34 rounds of matches -- needing two wins to secure the championship.

"Lyon is on a different level to other teams," Auxerre coach Guy Roux told French television. "We couldn't do any more."

Lille, which has 58 points, has played one match less than Lyon and is four points ahead of third-place Monaco.

Lyon had not won in four matches but dominated from the start against sixth-place Auxerre, which suffered its first home loss of the campaign.

Essien hit the crossbar with an early header before Juninho capped off a fine Lyon move in the 27th minute, his 40th league goal in 120 appearances for Lyon.

Benfica scored twice in the last 15 minutes to beat Estoril 2-1 and hold its lead in the league with four rounds left.

Paulo Sousa put Estoril up in the 11th minute, but in the second half Anderson "Luisao," who hadn't scored for Benfica in 13 months, headed home an equalizer in the 75th.

Striker Pedro Mantorras scored the winner in the 82nd, for Benfica stretch its lead in the standings to three points ahead of Sporting, and four in front of Braga, which visits Penafiel on Monday, and defending champion FC Porto.
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