United Beats Chelsea in Premier League
Manchester United beat title rival Chelsea 3-1 Sunday for its fifth straight victory in the Premier League, and Manchester City squandered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 tie at Fulham.
Wayne Rooney added to goals by Chris Smalling and Nani before missing a penalty kick, helping United (5-0) maintain its perfect start to the defense of its title. United won its 18th consecutive Premier League game at Old Trafford.
"We thought the fixture list had given us a real test. We're getting the tough ones early on but you've got to have them sometime," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "We're enjoying our football, playing with great enthusiasm and threat, and we could have scored six or seven. That threat is encouraging us all."
Fernando Torres scored for Chelsea (3-1-1) at the start of the second half for his first goal of the season and just his second goal in 24 games since the Blues bought him from Liverpool in January for $80 million. But he also missed on an open goal.
United has a two-point lead over Manchester City (4-0-1), which failed to hold the lead after two goals by Sergio Aguero. Aguero has eight goals this season, one behind Rooney at the top of the scoring list.
Bobby Zamora and Danny Murphy scored for Fulham (0-2-3). American midfielder Clint Dempsey set up Zamora's goal.
Elsewhere, Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice to add to goals by Luka Modric and Jermain Defoe, and American goalkeeper Brad Guzan got the shutout as Tottenham (2-2) cruised to a 4-0 victory over Liverpool (2-2-1). Sunderland (1-2-2) picked up its first win of the season, 4-0 over fifth-place Stoke (2-1-2).
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VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Real Madrid was stunned 1-0 by Levante in the Spanish league, with Arouna Kone scoring in the 68th minute to give the hosts its first-ever victory in seven league home games over the perennial power.
"We are a humble team and have to fight just to get by," Levante defender Sergio Ballesteros said. "They are the team with the most economic power in La Liga and the big stars, and they can't make excuses for losing."
Madrid played a man down from the 40th minute after Sami Khedira received his second yellow card.
"The fault, in my opinion, lies with one of my players who knew about this type of situation and yet still fell into the trap," Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said. "In the (training) sessions, we showed images just like those of the sending off of Khedira, and I thought that this was not going to happen and that nobody would be sent off. I think players have to be intelligent enough to avoid situations like this."
Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench at the start of the second half for Madrid (2-1), which dropped into third place, trailing Valencia and Betis (both 3-0) and three-time defending champion Barcelona (2-0-1).
Barcelona is at Valencia on Wednesday following its 8-0 rout of Osasuna on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Radamel Falcao scored a hat trick to lead Atletico Madrid to a 4-0 win over Racing Santander for its first victory of the Spanish league season.
Falcao scored Atletico's first goal of the season with a shot from just inside the penalty area in the 23rd minute. The Colombian forward then made it 2-0 on a penalty kick in the 36th. Arda Turan then assisted Falcao, and substitute Adrian Lopez scored to put the result beyond doubt in the second half.
Luis Garcia scored two goals, including the injury-time winner, to lift Zaragoza to a 2-1 win over his former club Espanyol. Rayo Vallecano edged Getafe 1-0.
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NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Edinson Cavani scored a hat trick and Napoli beat defending champion AC Milan 3-1.
After Alberto Aquilani gave Milan the lead in the 11th minute, Cavani got goals for host Napoli in the 13th, 36th and 51st minutes. Napoli (2-0) has not won Serie A since Diego Maradona it to titles in 1987
Napoli (2-0) leads Juventus, Udinese and Cagliari on goal difference. Defending champion Milan (0-1) fell to 17th place in the 20-team league.
Juventus won 1-0 at Siena as Alessandro Matri scored in the 54th minute.
Udinese defeated Fiorentina on goals from Antonio Di Natale and Mauricio Isla, while Fiorentina lost forward Alberto Gilardino in what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
Rodrigo Palacio scored once and set up another goal from Juraj Kucka as Genoa rallied to beat Lazio 2-1 with two second-half goals. Catania beat Cesena 1-0 with a penalty kick from Maxi Lopez just before halftime.
American midfielder Michael Bradley, son of former U.S. coach Bob Bradley, made his debut for Chievo Verona. He entered in the 72nd minute of a 2-1 loss at Parma. The only other American-born players to appear with Serie A clubs in recent years were Alexi Lalas, Giuseppe Rossi and Oguchi Onyewu.
Sebastian Giovinco scored in second-half injury time winner for Parma. Lecce won 2-0 at Bologna with goals from Uruguayans Guillermo Giacomazzi and Carlos Grossmuller.
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BERLIN (AP) — Didier Ya Konan scored in the 89th minute to rally Hannover to a 2-1 victory over defending champion Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. Bayern Munich beat Schalke 2-0, allowing no goals for the eighth game in a row in all competitions.
Ya Konan scored two minutes after Hannover's Karim Haggui powered a header from a corner kick past Roman Weidenfeller to make it 1-1. Shinji Kagawa put Dortmund ahead in the 63rd.
This was Dortmund's seventh road game in a row without a win, including last season — its longest streak without an away victory under coach Juergen Klopp.
Nils Petersen and Thomas Mueller scored for Bayern at Schalke.
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PARIS (AP) — Michel Bastos scored in the 29th minute after crossing to Bafetimbi Gomis for the opening goal in the 17th as Lyon beat Marseille 2-0 to move into the French league lead.
Lyon (4-0-2), the only undefeated team in the league, has a one-point lead over Montpellier and Toulouse (both 4-1-1).
Paris Saint-Germain rallied from a two-goal deficit to salvage a 2-2 draw with Evian, and Nancy was held to a 1-1 tie at Rennes.
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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Rangers scored three times in a second-half rally to beat Celtic 4-2 at Ibrox and take a four-point lead over its Glasgow rival in the Scottish Premier League.
With Americans Maurice Edu and Carlos Bocanega in the starting lineup, the defending champions were 2-1 behind at halftime, then tied it on Nikica Jelavic's goal in the 55th minute.
Kyle Lafferty put the Rangers (6-0-1) ahead from close range in the 67th, and Steven Naismith added a goal in stoppage time.
Naismith had put the hosts in front in the 23rd but Celtic (5-2), which had midfielder Charlie Mulgrew ejected for a second yellow card in the 75th, responded with goals by Gary Hooper and Badr El Kaddouri in the first Old Firm match this season.
Source: Associated Press
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