Arsenal, Real Madrid extend leads as AC Milan win derby
LONDON, Feb 23: Arsenal and Real Madrid extended their leads at the top of the standings while AC Milan came back from two goals down to beat city rivals Inter and maintain their lead at the top of Serie A in the weekend's European action.
Unbeaten Premier League leaders Arsenal will be in confident mood for their visit to Celta Vigo when the Champions League resumes with the first knockout stage on Tuesday after they took a firm grip in the title race with a 2-1 win at Chelsea.
Alex Ferguson's team drew 1-1 with relegation-threatened Leeds United at Old Trafford that leaves champions seven points behind Arsenal. Chelsea will head for their Champions League encounter with VfB Stuttgart nine points adrift of Arsenal and face a seemingly insurmountable task to reward billionaire owner Roman Abramovich with a league championship in his first season at the club.
In Spain, Ronaldo struck with a controversial penalty and a dazzling shimmy to help take Real Madrid five points clear of Valencia with a 4-2 win at Espanyol as they looked towards their Champions League showdown in Munich against Bayern on Tuesday.
Real's victory, which also featured goals from Roberto Carlos and Raul Bravo, gave them some breathing space over Valencia, who lost 1-0 at home to a resurgent Barcelona.
Deportivo Coruna's hopes of making it a three-way fight for the title were hit when they were held to a goalless draw at Atletico Madrid, leaving them six points adrift in third. Depor host Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Barca's fifth successive league win, clinched when the former Valencia midfielder Gerard headed in from a corner, took them clear in the race for the fourth Champions League spot.
Serie A leaders Milan fought back from two goals down to beat Inter 3-2 in a pulsating derby, a stunning 85th-minute strike from Clarence Seedorf completing the comeback.
Inter had led 2-0 at the break thanks to goals from Dejan Stankovic and Cristiano Zanetti but Danish substitute Jon Dahl Tomasson pulled one back for Milan in the 56th minute.
A minute later the European champions were level after a classy solo goal from Brazilian Kaka before Dutchman Seedorf unleashed a spectacular shot from 25 metres into the net.
Antonio Cassano scored a hat trick as AS Roma crushed Siena 6-0 to stay within five points of Milan, while a second-half goal from Mark Iuliano gave champions Juventus a 1-0 win at Bologna.
Juve's players wore black arm bands as a mark of respect for former striker John Charles who died aged 72 on Saturday. The Welshman scored 93 goals in 155 matches after joining Juve in 1957 for a then British record 65,000 pounds ($122,500).
Bayern Munich secured a morale-booster before hosting Real Madrid by battling to a 1-0 home win over Hamburg SV in the Bundesliga after Argentine defender Martin Demichelis struck with just three minutes left.
The champions stayed in second place but closed the gap to seven points on a Werder Bremen side chasing a fourth German title and their first since 1993 but who had to be content with a goalless draw at a determined Schalke 04.
Third-placed Stuttgart dropped 10 points off the pace with a 1-0 defeat at lowly Kaiserslautern. Monaco maintained their four-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 as they warmed up for the Champions League trip to Lokomotiv Moscow with a 4-0 win over lowly Montpellier thanks to a hat trick from second-choice striker Manuel Adebayor. -Reuters
