Ryan Giggs scored twice and Manchester United beat relegation-threatened Birmingham City 3-0 in the English Premier League on Sunday.
The Red Devils are back into second place with 66 points -- 12 behind league leader Chelsea. Liverpool slipped to third with 64 points, followed by Tottenham and Blackburn with 52, Arsenal with 50 and Bolton on 49.
In Sunday's other games, Middlesbrough rallied to beat Bolton 4-3, and Charlton defeated Newcastle 3-1.
PHOTO: EPA
Stunned 7-0 by Liverpool on Wednesday in the FA Cup, Birmingham was down 1-0 after only three minutes when Giggs beat goalkeeper Maik Taylor from a free kick.
In the 15th, Giggs scored from 6m, converting a through-ball from Wayne Rooney. Rooney scored the third in the 83rd, controlling a loose ball in midfield to score from 15m.
Sunderland is certain to be relegated with 10 points. Birmingham and Portsmouth have 24 in the next two relegation spots, with West Bromwich Albion just clear with 27 points.
West Brom plays Monday at Tottenham.
Stuart Parnaby's winner in second-half injury time almost guarantees that Middlesbrough will avoid relegation. Middlesbrough has 37 points, 13 above the drop zone.
Parnaby's goal on a close-range shot came after Bolton had leveled on goals from Radhi Jaidi and Jay Jay Okocha.
Jaidi equalized in the 81st with a header. Okocha scored in the 58th when goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer stopped his penalty -- but couldn't block the follow-up from the Nigerian playmaker.
Bolton led 1-0 in the third minute after Stelios Giannakopoulos scored off a defensive mix-up in the area. Middlesbrough scored the next three -- two from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and another from Mark Viduka.
``It was one of those strange games you get that is a manager's nightmare, but the fans love it. TV will love it, the neutral will love it,'' Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren said. ``But the managers and coaches are tearing their hair out because you have conceded too many goals -- both teams.''
Charlton led 1-0 on Darren Bent's 24th-minute penalty, with Scott Parker equalizing for the Magpies 11 minutes later.
Charlton went ahead again in the 37th when Newcastle's Lee Bowyer scored an own goal, and the London team made it 3-1 in the 89th on Jay Bothroyd's goal.
Ronaldo scored his 12th goal of the season to help Real Madrid beat Deportivo La Coruna 4-0 and move into second place.
Madrid, which went ahead at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium when Hector Berenguel scored an own-goal, also got goals from Sergio Ramos and Julio Baptista.
The win stretched Madrid's unbeaten run to five matches and maintained its slender chance of winning the title.
The 29-time champion is 11 points behind leader FC Barcelona with eight games remaining. The teams meet at the Camp Nou stadium next Saturday.
Earlier, Valencia's faint title hopes were virtually killed with a 1-0 loss at Sevilla.
Barcelona leads the league with 68 points, followed by Madrid with 57 and Osasuna with 55. Valencia is next with 53 points, while Sevilla has 51.
Also on Sunday, it was: Celta Vigo 2, Mallorca 0; Getafe 2, Real Sociedad 1; Espanyol 0, Alaves 0; and Racing Santander 0, Zaragoza 0.
In a late game, lowly Cadiz drew 1-1 with Atletico Madrid.
Defender Massimo Oddo scored two second-half goals and Lazio beat Sampdoria 2-0 to move up to sixth place in the Serie A.
The Roman team, rebounding from a 3-1 loss to Inter Milan last weekend, is level with Chievo Verona with 45 points to revive its hopes of a UEFA Cup berth.
Oddo, a right back who likes to get forward, opened the scoring at the Stadio Olimpico in the 70th minute with a long-distance shot that was partially deflected by Sampdoria midfielder Angelo Palombo.
Oddo made it 2-0 in the 90th, converting a penalty kick after Marcello Castellini had handled the ball.
Sampdoria's sixth straight loss took it into the lower half of the table, nine points off the relegation zone.
Also Sunday, Brazilian forward Amauri scored twice and Chievo rallied to a 2-2 draw at Ascoli; Palermo beat last-place Treviso 1-0 with Stephen Makinwa scoring; Livorno dropped to eighth after a 2-1 loss at Empoli; Messina and Udinese drew 1-1 to stay in the relegation zone; Lecce upset Siena 2-1 on goals from Guillermo Giacomazzi and Mirko Vucinic.
In Champions League quarterfinal matches, Juventus is at Arsenal on today, Inter Milan hosts Villarreal and Milan is at Lyon on tomorrow.
Halil Altintop scored two goals to help FC Kaiserslautern's battle against demotion, lifting the club past Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0.
The German-raised Turk scored in the 32nd and 33rd minutes to run his total to 16 goals, second only to Bundesliga leader Miroslav Klose of Werder Bremen. The win moved Kaiserslautern one point away from escaping the relegation zone.
Altintop said the win didn't really solve the problems at Kaiserslautern, a four-time German champion.
Moenchengladbach, once lodged in the upper table, fell to 10th place, although it is only three points short of fifth place and a UEFA Cup berth.
Also Sunday, Arminia Bielefeld held visiting Nuremberg to a 0-0 draw and cooled off forward Robert Vittek.
The Croat had scored eight goals in three matches, but rarely had an attempt in what turned into a dull defensive battle in one of the worst matches for Nuremberg coach Hans Meyer.
Meyer had compiled a 7-3-4 record after taking over a team deep in relegation.
"I'll take a point in an away match anytime -- of course the match didn't rip people out of their seats," Meyer said.
Haris Medunjanin scored and AZ Alkmaar beat RKC Waalwijk 1-0.
Defending champions PSV Eindhoven beat Willem II 3-0 Saturday on goals from Ismail Aissati, Eric Addo and Arouna Kone for its 1,000th league win and move closer to clinching its 19th league title.
With four rounds remaining, PSV is four points away from winning the Eredivisie. PSV leads with 76 points. AZ Alkmaar is next with 67, Feyenoord has 63 and Ajax has 51.
Also Sunday, Finland's Joonas Kolkka scored twice and lowly ADO The Hague beat Feyenoord 2-0, while David Mendes da Silva scored in the 80th minute as NAC Breda drew 1-1 with Ajax.
On Saturday, Simon Cziommer scored a hat trick as Roda JC beat 10-man RBC Roosendaal 5-1. Edrissa Sonkoh and Humphrey Rudge also scored for Roda, while Melvin Fleur netted for Roosendaal in the second half.
In other 30th-round matches, it was: Vitesse Arnhem 3, Sparta Rotterdam 1; NEC Nijmegen 2, FC Groningen 2; FC Twente 1, SC Heerenveen 2; and FC Utrecht 1, Heracles Almelo 0.
Leader FC Porto won, and so did closest rivals Sporting Lisbon and Benfica at the weekend.
Hugo Almeida scored the only goal in FC Porto's 1-0 win over Academica to give it 63 points after 28 rounds on Sunday.
Sporting was two points behind, and Benfica on 56 after downing fourth-place Braga 1-0.
Sporting beat visiting minnow Penafiel 2-0 on goals by Nani Cunha and Joao Alves.
Robert Koren scored on a penalty kick in the 24th minute to help Lillestrom beat Swedish champion Djurgarden 1-0 and reach the final on 4-1 aggregate.
The Norwegian team will meet defending champion FC Copenhagen in the final on April 6 in Copenhagen.
FC Copenhagen advanced with a 7-1 aggregate win over fellow Danish team Midtjylland.
The Royal League, so named because Sweden, Denmark and Norway are constitutional monarchies, started last year with the top four teams from the three Scandinavian countries.
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