Man United beats Liverpool, Chelsea ties

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Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1 to move two points ahead at the top of the Premier League on Sunday, while Chelsea lost ground with a 1-1 tie at Blackburn.

Fernando Torres put Liverpool in front with a header at Old Trafford, and Wayne Rooney evened the score in the 12th minute. Pepe Reina saved Rooney's penalty kick, but Rooney later put home a rebound for his 33rd goal of the season. Park Ji-sung headed a second-half winner from Darren Fletcher's cross.

Didier Drogba put Chelsea ahead after six minutes at Blackburn, but a header by El-Hadji Diouf gave the hosts a point. Chelsea is four points behind United and two behind Arsenal but with a game in hand on both. Arsenal beat West Ham 2-0 on Saturday.

Man United has 69 points and second-place Arsenal 67, each from 31 games. Chelsea has 65 from 30 and has the chance to cut United's lead to one point Wednesday when it plays its game in hand at Portsmouth on Wednesday.

"It's a difficult moment now," said Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, whose team was knocked out of the Champions League by Inter Milan on Tuesday. "We are in third position and we are behind now. We have to run more but we don't have to lose our confidence."

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FRANKFURT (AP) _ Schalke squandered a chance to knock Bayern Munich off the top of the Bundesliga. settling for a 2-2 draw at Hamburger SV.

Bayern lost 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday and Schalke could have moved a point ahead at the top with a win.

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored for Hamburg late in the first half but Schalke turned the game around with a goal from Kevin Kuranyi and a penalty kick by Ivan Rakitic during a five-minute stretch in the second half.

Substitute Jonathan Pitroipa salvaged a point for Hamburg with a tying goal in the 77th minute.

Bayern leads the standings with 56 points and Schalke has 55.

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AMSTERDAM (AP) _ Luis Suarez scored twice and created another as Ajax routed RKC Waalwijk 5-1 to cut first-place FC Twente's lead in the Dutch league to four points.

Suarez first crossed to Siem de Jong, whose header put Ajax in front after nine minutes. De Jong set up the Ajax captain for the second goal in the 47th after Waalwijk had tied it through Marko Pantelic's own goal.

Frank van Mosselveld also had an own-goal in the 65th before further goals by Suarez and Dennis Rommedahl completed the rout.

With six rounds to go, FC Twente leads the standings with 71 points after holding rival PSV Eindhoven to a 1-1 draw Saturday. Ajax moved to second with 67 points, one more than PSV.

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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) _ Kenny Miller scored on a header in the 84th minute, leading nine-man Rangers past St. Mirren 1-0 for a victory in the Scottish League Cup.

After Kevin Thomson and Danny Wilson had been sent off in the second half, Rangers were left two men short for the last 20 minutes at Hampden Park.

But Miller headed home a cross by Steven Naismith Rangers' 26th triumph in Scottish soccer's third-tier competition.

Also in the last eight of the Scottish Cup and well ahead in the league, Rangers are now on course to win three titles.

On Saturday, Rangers' lead in the league championship was cut to 10 points by Celtic, which beat St. Johnstone 3-0.

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) _ U.S. striker Eddie Johnson scored for Aris in a 1-1 draw with Panionios in the Greek league.

He scored in the 11th minute and Panionios tied in the 80th on a goal by Davor Kukec.

Aris is in fifth place with 43 points, five behind fourth-place AEK Athens.

First-place Panathinaikos has 61 points, four more than Olympiakos, with three rounds left.

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