Chelsea clinched second place Saturday in the Premier League, drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford to gain a berth in the regular phase of the Champions League.
Jesper Gronkjaer scored in the 19th -- a perfectly placed 18m strike -- to give Chelsea a 1-0 lead.
PHOTO: EPA
With Chelsea down to 10 men, Ruud van Nistelrooy equalized in the 77th, scoring after Chelsea 'keeper Carlo Cudicini fumbled a long kick with the Dutchman standing alongside to knock it home.
PHOTO: EPA
The draw gave Chelsea 76 points and Manchester United 72 -- one game remains -- and means the Blues join champion Arsenal as the automatic qualifier. Manchester United will finish third and must go through summer qualifying to reach the regular phase.
Man United's Van Nistelrooy was stopped on a penalty late in the first half. In the second, Chelsea played with 10 men after Robert Huth was sent off on his second yellow card in the 73rd.
Chelsea's Italian manager Claudio Ranieri is reported on the way out, but he said after the match he thought he might be invited back next season. The second-place finish was his best as a manager in any league.
"Slowly, slowly I'm getting better," he said.
Porto manager Jose Mourinho is widely reported in line to succeed Ranieri. Asked if he would return, Ranieri said he wouldn't ``bet about it'' but sounded optimistic.
Liverpool took an edge on Villa and Newcastle in the battle for fourth, winning 3-0 at Birmingham on goals by Michael Owen (29th), Emile Heskey (51st) and Steven Gerrard (86th).
The three relegation spots are determined with Leeds, Leicester and Wolves going down. Wolves have 32 points with Leeds and Leicester on 33. Man City has 38 and escaped relegation.
Manchester United is wrapping up its worst season in a decade. The side's only trophy hope is May 22 in the FA Cup final in Cardiff, Wales. The Reds are overwhelming favorites against first-division side Millwall.
Manchester United has been overshadowed this season by Arsenal and Chelsea.
Arsenal is undefeated in 36 league games and will try to make it 37 on Sunday at Fulham.
The Gunners have won 24 and drawn 12 in their bid to become the first top-flight club to complete an unbeaten season since Preston North End in 1888-89.
The Gunners' final game is at home to Leicester on May 15.
Arsenal leads with 84 followed by: Chelsea (76), Man United (72), Liverpool (59), Villa (56), Newcastle (53) and Bolton (53).
Claiming second place makes up partially for Chelsea's ouster Wednesday from the Champions League semifinals by French league side Monaco. After eliminating Arsenal in the quarterfinals, Chelsea was the favorite to reach the Champions League final May 26 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Instead, it will be Monaco vs. Porto.
Gronkjaer gave Chelsea a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute. Moving just inside the 18m line on the left side, Gronkjaer struck a rising shot that got in over 'keeper Tim Howard diving to his left. It was his first league goal of the season.
United had several chances to tie the match in the first half. The best came on a penalty late in the half when Cudicini guessed right, dived to his right, and stopped Van Nistelrooy's penalty attempt.
Van Nistelrooy made up for it and got the equalizer, his first Premier League goal in almost three months.
Mikael Silvestre sent in a long, arching shot. Cudicini came out to catch the ball, but it slipped through his hands. Van Nistelrooy was in behind him to poke it home.
Spanish league
Real Madrid lost 3-2 at home to Mallorca, while FC Barcelona fell 1-0 against Celta de Vigo, making Valencia a near-certainty to win the league title.
Valencia will be crowned champion today if it wins at Sevilla. Even if Valencia loses, it would only need two points from its remaining two matches to be sure of lifting the title for the second time in three seasons.
Valencia has 74 points from 35 games, while Madrid has 70 from 36 and Barcelona has 69 from 36. Deportivo, which visits Espanyol on Sunday, has 65 points.
Defending champion Madrid suffered its third successive home defeat Saturday and continued its astounding slump since March when it was eliminated from the Champions League and lost the Copa del Rey final. The world's most star-studded team looks virtually guaranteed to end the season without a trophy.
"It's obvious that we've said goodbye to the title. This was our last opportunity," Madrid right back Michel Salgado was quoted as saying by leading sports daily Marca. "We're having a terrible end to the season and it's because we're very tired."
Barcelona went down to a 43rd-minute goal by Celta forward Edu Schmidt which came close to snuffing out its championship chances and ended its 17-match unbeaten streak in the league.
Mallorca, which humiliated Madrid 5-1 on its last league visit to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, inflicted further embarrassment by netting three times before halftime with Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o striker the principal tormentor.
Madrid, lacking suspended Zinedine Zidane, fell behind in the 10th minute when the African Player of the Year showed a characteristic turn of speed to outpace the Madrid defense and lift the ball past goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
Carlos Queiroz's team gained temporary respite seven minutes later when Pavon powered a header home from an outswinging corner by David Beckham. The goal was the central defender's first in the league this season.
But Eto'o highlighted Madrid's defensive frailty 20 minutes later with a brilliant second goal.
Collecting a misdirected pass close to the halfway line, the striker weaved his way to the left before darting between Pavon and Luis Figo and shooting home from inside the area.
Madrid's woes increased six minutes later, when midfielder Alejandro Campano floated his free-kick past Casillas for the third goal, provoking a chorus of whistles from the dissatisfied home supporters.
However, Madrid gained an early boost after the restart when Figo scored with a twice-taken penalty after Mallorca striker Andrea Delibasic was adjudged to have fouled the Portuguese midfielder.
Ronaldo, who had been quiet up to then, put the ball in the net in the 65th minute but the goal was disallowed for handball. The Brazilian ace received a yellow card, forcing him out of next week's visit to relegated Murcia.
Mallorca kept Madrid at bay in the closing stages and virtually ensured its first-division survival. Mallorca is 12th with 45 points.
Bundesliga
Werder Bremen beat Bayern Munich 3-1 to dethrone the defending champion and capture its first Bundesliga title since 1993.
Ivan Klasnic, Johan Micoud and Ailton scored in the first half at Munich's Olympic stadium to secure Bremen's fourth championship with two rounds remaining in the season. Bremen toyed with the outgoing champion before a capacity crowd of 65,000 and proved beyond a doubt that it was the best team in the league.
"We worked very hard for this," Micoud said. "We've believed for a long time that we'd win the title, but we didn't speak about it openly."
Bremen now has 74 points and cannot be overtaken by Bayern, which is nine points behind at 65.
The defeat left Bayern, Germany's most successful club, without silverware this season. Bayern was knocked out of the Champions League in the second round and was eliminated from the German Cup by a second-division team.
But Bayern can still hope to clinch second place and direct qualification for the Champions League thanks to Stuttgart's 2-1 loss at Hamburger, SV. Stuttgart (61 points) can cut the gap next week at home against Bayern.
Bremen ran its unbeaten streak to 23 games.
The club form northern Germany has dominated the season and has won fans across the country with its attractive, offensive style.
Apart from striker Ailton, who leads the league with 27 goals, Bremen's game centers around the playmaking skills of French star Micoud. Another Frenchmen, Valerien Ismael, anchors a stingy defense.
But Bremen will be without Ailton and another star defender, Mladen Krstajic, in next season's Champions League. Both are leaving for Bundesliga rival Schalke.
Bremen also won the Bundesliga title in 1965, 1988 and 1993. It can complete a double if it wins the German Cup final May 29 against second-division Alemannia Aachen, the team that ousted Bayern.
French league
Lyon maintained its three-point lead over Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the first division with a 2-1 victory over Metz.
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Rennes 1-0 to take the second place with 70 points from 35 matches and secure a berth for next season's Champions League.
Monaco, third on 68 points from 34 matches, can leapfrog PSG if it beats Marseille in Sunday's remaining game.
The game was tense for Lyon, as players already knew the result of PSG's win before kickoff.
"We had a lot of pressure, but we responded positively," said Lyon goalkeeper Gregory Coupet.
Metz took the lead in the 10th minute as striker Toifilou Maoulida broke the offside trap to dribble past Coupet and score in the empty goal.
But Lyon equalized in the 23rd on a free kick by Brazilian midfielder Juninho, who sent a curling shot in the right top corner of the net.
Brazilian forward Giovane Elber gave his team the winner in the 74th with a header off a cross by France forward Peguy Luyindula.
Greek Cup
Michalis Constantinou of Cyprus scored two second-half goals to help Panathinaikos Athens win the Greek Cup after beating archrival Olympiakos Piraeus 3-1 in the final.
It was the first Cup title won by the Athens club since 1995 and its 16th in the competition's 62-year history.
Fireworks lit up the sky as captain Angelos Basinas lifted the cup in front of 3,500 jubilant Panathinaikos supporters.
Panathinaikos is now dreaming of the double. With two rounds left in the first division, the Athens club leads Olympiakos by two points. Panathinaikos last gained the league title in 1996, while Olympiakos has won the past seven championships.
The final was played at the stadium of first division Panionios Athens after fears of fan violence left the game without a willing host.
The encounter was originally scheduled for a newly built stadium in the western city of Patras, but police objected for security reasons.
Rival supporters were kept far apart inside Panionios' 13,000-seat stadium with only 7,000 tickets split between the two clubs.
Draconian security measures -- involving some 2,500 police officers -- were imposed in and around the stadium.
Fears of violence resulted in both Greek President Constantine Stephanopoulos and sports undersecretary Yiorgos Orfanos turning down traditional invitations to attend the match.
On the pitch, Panathinaikos enjoyed a superb start, going 1-0 up in the third minute with a header by Dimitris Papadopoulos off a perfect cross from German midfielder Markus Muench.
The early goal forced Olympiakos coach Nikos Alefantos to make two substitutions -- Lambros Houtos replaced Grigoris Georgatos in the 14th and Dimitris Mavrogennidis came on for Spyros Vallas in the 22nd.
Despite the changes, Panathinaikos came close to another goal in the 26th when a close-range header by Constantinou forced a diving save by goalkeeper Kleopas Yiannou.
At the other end, Panathinaikos 'keeper Costas Halkias did the same against a header by Ieroklis Stoltidis in the 39th.
But Halkias could only watch in the 66th as a well-placed header by Brazilian forward Giovanni, off a pass from Predrag Djordjevic, leveled the score at 1-1.
It took Constantinou only two minutes to give his team the lead again, quickly picking up on a header from Papadopoulos.
In the 80th, the Cypriot attacker exploited a mistake by French midfielder Christian Karembeu to make the score 3-1 and seal Panathinaikos' victory.
Olympiakos' last scoring chance came four minutes from the end when a shot by Djordjevic hit Halkias' bar.
Panathinaikos fans celebrated the win in downtown Athens, singing and waving the club's flag, as cars blew their horns.
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