BPL Watch: Manchester United 5, Tottenham 2.

Facing a two-goal deficit at halftime, Manchester United not only rallied back to tie the game, but won it by three goals with two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo (his - and United's - first coming from a penalty kick), two from Wayne Rooney, and one from Dimitar Berbatov.

Luka Modric and Darren Bent scored one apiece before halftime to lead Tottenham to a two-goal cushion. However, it obviously wasn't enough for a win, as United showed great spirit in the second half to grab the three points, staying clear of Liverpool in the league table. The Merseysiders also won their game, 3-1 against Hull City.

Manchester United has a 3-point lead in the league table with a game to spare. They meet Arsenal on Wednesday for the Champions League and Middlesbrough on Sunday in Premier League action.

BPL Watch: Kuyt Leads Liverpool Over Hull, 3-1.

Liverpool is not backing down on their challenge to Manchester United. With Chelsea seemingly already out of the picture in the Premier League title race, they kept afloat their championship dreams with two goals from Dirk Kuyt and one from Xabi Alonso.

Macio Geovanni opened the scoring with a 73rd minute goal. Alonso's goal before halftime equalized the scoreline for the Merseysiders.

Liverpool trails Manchester United by 3 goals and 1 game in the league table. They meet Newcastle United on Sunday, May 3.

BPL Watch: Chelsea Wins Against West Ham, 1-0.

A Didier Drogba and Michael Essien-less Chelsea lineup squeaked past West Ham, 1-0, thanks to a spirited performance by Frank Lampard, who created the chance taken by Salomon Kalou, scoring the game's only goal in the 55th minute.

Chelsea's lineup changes were in preparation for Tuesday's match-up with a very strong Barcelona side in the Champions League. Chelsea trails Liverpool by 3 points in the league table, but with Manchester United far ahead, manager Guus Hiddink seems to have lost interest in chasing the domestic title.

La Liga Watch: Villareal Rallies Past Recreativo Huelva, 2-1.

Joseba Llorente and Cani recovered from a 1st minute goal from Javier Camunas to deliver a win for their side, 2-1, in a disappointing performance that almost lost Villareal at least a point against relegation-bound Recreativo Huelva.

Villareal is still in the hunt for the 4th league table place, trailing Valencia by only 3 points but with a huge goal difference disadvantage (only 4 to Valencia's 15).

They meet Getafe CF next on Sunday.

Coppa Italia Watch: Inter Goal Not Enough, Sampdoria Advances to Final.

League leaders Internazionale successfully scored one goal in the second leg of their duel against Sampdoria thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but it wasn't enough as Sampdoria advances to the final match of Coppa Italia with a 3-1 win on aggregate.

They meet Lazio who earlier defeated Juventus, 4-2 on aggregate.

Sampdoria and Lazio have won the Italian Cup four times each; Sampdoria lifted the trophy last in 1994 and Lazio in 2004.

BPL Watch: Chelsea 0, Everton 0.

It was a frustrating night at Stamford Bridge with both sides failing to score in a 0-0 deadlock that lasted throughout the game. Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Everton's Jo had chances to score but both failed to convert them into game-winning situations.

Chelsea (3rd) sank further behind Manchester United (1st); they're currently third in the league table behind Liverpool by three points and the leaders by six points. Realistically speaking, Guus Hiddink's side is now out of the race for the BPL title.

"It is difficult but we now have to focus on only two other roads - the Champions League and, later on in May, Everton again in the FA Cup final."

- Guus Hiddink

Chelsea meets West Ham United on Saturday and Barcelona on Tuesday (April 28) for the first leg of their Champions League semifinals match.

BPL Watch: Manchester United Back on Top With 2-0 Win Over Portsmouth.

Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick lifted Manchester United to a win against Portsmouth, scoring one goal each. The victory won back Manchester United the league table's top spot.

United made a huge change from the lineup they used in their loss against Everton in Wembley; in particular, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Ryan Giggs, and Edwin van der Sar made their return to the starting lineup.

Portsmouth was overwhelmed, aiming only one shot on target out of four attempts; United was on target on 12 of 21 attempts at the goal.

United meets Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Coppa Italia Watch: Lazio Downs Juventus, 2-1.

Mauro Zarate and Aleksandar Kolarov sealed Lazio's Italian Cup finals appearance with one goal each against Juventus, winning the game, 2-1.

Alessandro Del Piero was substituted in, but his output of one goal wasn't enough for Juve. With them now out of the cup and trailing Inter by a huge margin, it seems likely for Juventus to end the year trophyless.

Juventus meets Reggina on Sunday, April 26.

La Liga Watch: Villa Nets Two in 2-1 Valencia Win Over Betis.

David Villa scored two goals in Valencia's meet-up with Real Betis off assists from Eduardo Cesar Gaspar and Juan Manuel Mata Garcia; Ricardo Oliveira got one back for Betis but it was too little, too late in the 89th minute.

Valencia will meet a surging Barcelona team on Saturday, April 25, while Real Betis will encounter Espanyol on Sunday, April 26.

La Liga Watch: Sevilla Loses Big at the Hands of Barca, 4-0.

Andres Iniesta, Samuel Eto'o, Xavi, and Thierry Henry all contributed goals to Barcelona's 4-0 victory against Sevilla, easily extending their lead over Real Madrid to 6 points with no difference in the number of games played. Iniesta assisted on all three goals he didn't score himself.

Huge battles lay on the horizon for Barca as clashes with Valencia, Chelsea, and Real Madrid are scheduled within the next eight days. Sevilla meets Real Madrid next on Sunday.

La Liga Watch: Real Madrid Squeezes Through Getafe, 3-2.

Getafe opened scoring with a header by Roberto Soldado, but Gonzalo Higuain slotted the ball just before halftime to equalize for Real Madrid. Juan Angel Albin pushed Getafe back in front with a strike from the edge of the box; however, one minute is all it took for Real to come back in terms with a goal from Jose Maria Guti. Then, in the 91st minute, Higuain struck again, winning the game for Real Madrid.

It could have been a win or at least a draw for Getafe as Francisco Casquero had the opportunity to give the lead back to his team with an 86th minute penalty kick, but he missed badly, kicking the ball straight into the hands of Iker Casillas.

Real Madrid is still trailing Barcelona closely in the title race, having played one game more and only down by 3 points. Probably the deciding match will be the El Clasico match on the 3rd of May; however, Real Madrid will still have to meet up with Sevilla on April 26 and Barcelona still has Sevilla (April 22), Valencia (April 25), and Chelsea (April 28, Champions League) to look forward to before the big game.

BPL Watch: Total Bummer for Liverpool; Arshavin Strikes Four Times, Ties Game at 4-4.

Liverpool badly needed a win against Arsenal, but Andrey Arshavin kept on breaking their defense and totalled four goals to tie the game at Anfield. The Gunners almost had it won if not for an injury-time equalizer by Yossi Benayoun, who scored two goals in the game. Fernando Torres scored the other two for Liverpool.

Theo Walcott and Andrei Arshavin's deadly speed advantage made Liverpool's slow players pay, particularly Jamie Carragher and Alvaro Arbeloa.

Manchester United is now behind Liverpool in the league table on goal difference, but the Merseysiders are two games ahead. United hosts Portsmouth today.

Ligue 1 Watch: League's Two and Three Switch Places as Bordeaux Edge Lyon, 1-0.

Lyon was sitting in second place before the match, but a persistent Bordeaux squad came up with the win that allowed them to steal Lyon's table position.

Alou Diarra's 43rd minute goal sealed it for Bordeaux, who now only trail first-place Marseille by a couple of points.

Lyon will face fourth-ranked Paris-SG on Friday and Bordeaux will meet Rennes on Sunday.

Ligue 1 Watch: Marseille Still No. 1, Wins Over Lorient, 2-1.

With Bordeaux and Lyon breathing down their necks, Marseille kept their top team status after defeating Lorient, 2-1.

Brandao scored Marseille's second goal about 80 minutes before end-game, ending the stalemate from Lorient's Kevin Gameiro and opposing Renato Civelli's goals cancelling each other out.

With emotions running high, Marseille's Lorik Cana and Lorient's Arnaud Le Lan received a red card each for fighting with two minutes remaining in the game.

BPL Watch: Newcastle and West Brom Sink Further in Race to Survive Relegation.

In their latest meet-up, Tottenham Hotspur pushed down Newcastle United with a 1-0 win thanks to Darren Bent's goal 24 minutes in the game.

In the 69th minute, Newcastle could have leveled things up with a goal but it was disallowed after the referee calls handball on Obafemi Martins.

West Brom, meanwhile, was defeated at the hands of Manchester City, 4-2. Robinho, Nedum Onuoha, Blumer Elano, and Daniel Sturridge scored one goal apiece for Manchester, while Chris Brunt tried to keep up with two goals for West Brom.

It could have been ended in a tie, though; Sturridge's goal came only after three minutes into extra time, and just after Pablo Zabaleta had to pull out of the game after an apparent pulled hamstring. City played the rest of the game with only 10 men having already used all of their substitutions, but was fortunate enough that Stephen Ireland and Sturridge kept their heads in the game to seal the win for their team.

Series A Watch: Milan Wins Against Torino, 5-1.

Needing only a goal and two points to overtake Juventus for the league table's second place, Milan gets it done against Torino, winning the match in San Siro, 5-1.

David Beckham played brilliantly in the first half, supplying the ball on the move and from the corner, consequently resulting in two goals from Filippo Inzaghi before halftime. Inzaghi completed his hat-trick in the 60th minute thanks to an assist from Ronaldinho.

Kaka added to Torino's woes with a 68th minute penalty goal. Ivan Franceschini eventually gets one back for Torino, but it doesn't save a lot of hurt pride.

Massimo Ambrosini puts an exclamation point on Milan's superb performance with a 90th minute goal off a pass from Kaka.

With the win, they cruise ahead of Juventus with an equal point total (64) but a superior goal difference.

La Liga Watch: Yellow Card Confetti in Valencia's Win Over Sevilla, 3-1.

Valencia overtook Atletico Madrid to take the fourth place on the La Liga table after outpointing Sevilla, 3-1.

Julien Escude delivered great header into the top corner to give Sevilla the lead. David Villa was poorly tackled in the 44th minute causing Adriano Correia to be sent off, and he promptly followed that up with a goal that leveled things up right before halftime.

In the 82nd minute, Andres Palop was booked and a penalty was awarded to Valencia, which resulted in a goal by Juan Manuel Mata Garcia. Not long after, Sevilla coach Manuel Jimenez was sent off himself.

For good measure, Pablo Hernandez scores one in extra time, but he gets a booking for taking his shirt off in celebration.

I don't know what to say about the match; it looked as if the referee was enjoying giving out yellow cards to everyone playing.

With the win, Valencia now only trails Sevilla in the table by five points, 57-52.

Serie A Watch: Fiorentina Fails Climb to Fourth, Loses 3-1 to Udinese.

Trailing Genoa by only two points before the game, Fiorentina hoped it could catapult themselves in the league table with a win; however, they lost miserably to Udinese with a goal from Kwadwo Asamoah and two from Gaetano D'Agostino.

As if for consolation, Manuel Pasqual assisted on a goal by Dario Dainelli to salvage some pride for Fiorentina.

They are still being trailed by AS Roma, whom they now only lead by three points after Francesco Totti struck twice to lead his team against Lecce, 3-2.

FA Cup Watch: Everton Knocks Manchester United Out, 0-0 (4-2 on penalties).

The FA Cup semifinal match between Manchester United and Everton kicked off with a very unsettling sight for United fans: the starting squad sported an unrecognizable look with Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, and Edwin van der Sar all out of the lineup; hell, they weren't even dressed up as subs.

By the 60th minute, with the score stalled at 0-0, I thought if this went down to a penalty shootout, United will be at a serious disadvantage with a so-so goalkeeper manning the posts.

After 120 minutes and with both teams still unable to score, it boiled down to a shootout; Sir Alex Ferguson's gamble early on cost United the FA Cup trophy as Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov's kicks were saved, and Everton advanced to the finals against Chelsea.

FK Pobeda Banned for Match-Fixing.

FK Pobeda, a team currently playing in the Macedonian Prva Liga, was banned for eight years from European play for fixing the outcome of a 2004 Champions League qualifier against FC Pyunik (of Armenia). Team president Aleksandar Zabrcanec and then-captain Nikolce Zdravevski were banned for life.

Pobeda, according to the panel judging the fate of the club in a seven-hour long meeting, made sure they lost to Pyunik back in 2004.

While Pobeda's far from being the team you'd see playing alongside major football clubs, it's just right for them to get the kind of punishment they received; no one should get away from fixing the results of matches. It's that lack of sportsmanship and integrity that threatens the competitiveness and quality of international football, and Pobeda, while being a small-fry in the grand scheme of things, isn't entitled to any exceptions, lest the governing bodies risk tainting the overall integrity of European competitions.

La Liga Watch: Real Madrid Still in the League Race With Win, 1-0.

Real Madrid's Marcelo kept his team in the running for the league title as he scored the lone goal in their match-up with lowly Recreativo Huelva.

Having won earlier, Barca had their lead against their archrivals extended to nine points, but Real Madrid was able to reply with their own win.

I think this league race isn't that much different from the race between the top two teams in the Premier League: both league leaders (Barca and United) still have to split their attentions between league matches and the Champions League, while the teams trailing them (Real Madrid and Liverpool) have already been eliminated and are now only focusing on keeping the pressure on.

La Liga Watch: Messi Leads Barca Against Getafe, 1-0.

Lionel Messi scored a 19th minute goal to lift Barcelona against Getafe C.F., extending their lead in the table against Real Madrid by 9 points by end-game, but that lead was cut back to 6 after Real Madrid defeated Recreativo Huelva, 1-0.

Barcelona played superb as usual with 8 shots on target but only Messi's attempt found the back of the net.

Barca meets Sevilla on Wednesday and Valencia on Saturday before facing Chelsea in the Champions League semifinals.

La Liga Watch: Atletico Madrid Tramples C.D. Numancia, 3-0.

Ever Banega, Diego Forlan, and Simao Sabrosa scored a goal each to trample relegation-bound C.D. Numancia as Atletico Madrid hangs on in the battle for fourth place with Valencia, which trails at fifth place with an equal 49 points but with one more game to play.

Sergio Aguero, Simao and Forlan also added an assist each to make the win convincing for Altetico.

C.D. Numancia is set to be relegated to the second-tier league with only 28 points so far, trailing Recreativo Huelva with 30 and followed by Espanyol with 26. It looks like Sporting de Gijon is safe from relegation with 33 points.

FA Cup Watch: Chelsea Downs Arsenal, 2-1.

Poor goalkeeping twice over from Arsenal's Lukasz Fabianski combined with Wembley Stadium's "laughable" pitch (as Arsene Wenger complained) allowed Chelsea to advance to the FA Cup finals, winning against the Gunners, 2-1.

Theo Walcott scored the opening goal at the 18th minute with a volley, but it was cancelled out about 15 minutes later when Florent Malouda found the back of the net after a costly error by Fabianski. The Arsenal goalkeeper made another mistake near the end of the game, allowing Didier Drogba to stab the winning dagger for Chelsea.

Chelsea will face whoever wins the match between Manchester United and Everton in the finals. United is eyeing a five-trophy season with pending campaigns in the FA Cup, the Champions League, and the Premier League. However, Chelsea is still in the hunt for the three said competitions, equalling Manchester United in the first two and currently placing third on the Premier League table behind United and Liverpool.

Serie A Watch: Internazionale Travels to Juventus, Draws 1-1.

Jose Mourinho's Internazionale traveled to Turin to meet Juventus and probably thought they'd leave the place with 3 points when Mario Balotelli scored for them minutes after halftime. However, Zdenek Grygera made sure that didn't happen when he equalized with a header off a corner kick at around the 91st minutes, sending Mourinho's boys packing from Stadio Olimpico with nothing more than a draw.

Inter has a vast advantage over runners up Juventus and AC Milan, the former trailing by 10 points with 32 games played (as with Inter), and the latter trailing by 13 points with 31 games played. Should AC Milan win their next game (against Torino) by two points, they will take over the second spot on the Serie A table, as only one game, three points, and one goal separate them now from Juventus.

AC Milan has won four of their last five league games.

Champions League Round Up: 1st Leg, 1/4 Finals.

Arsenal @ Villareal, 1-1. The first leg of Arsenal’s quarter-final campaign marked the return of Cesc Fabregas from injury; however, Arsenal’s spectacle last night was Emmanuel Adebayor, who equalized on a spectacular scissor kick. Arsene Wenger should be excited at the prospects of his next three Champions League matches: an advantage over Villareal with an away goal, the next game to be played at home, and a couple of encounters with either Porto (whom they trashed 4-0 earlier in their campaign) or the slumping Manchester United.

Side note: Is Fabregas bothered at all by the allegations by Hull that he spat at their assistant manager, Brian Horton? Arsenal and their team captain have to respond to the claim within the week.

FC Porto @ Manchester United, 2-2. I find this one a shocker: two away goals scored at Old Trafford? I expected a lot more from Manchester United given the supposed talent difference between them and Porto; the home team’s defense was a disappointment, but one can’t take away the credit from Porto’s Cristian Rodriguez (for the nice strike) and Mariano Gonzales (for the wide open shot; where was United’s defense?). Fergie himself has pointed his finger at his team’s lack of concentration especially on defense, and why not? Porto’s fighting chance and United’s demise in this tournament may very well be thanks to that late second goal.

Side note: Is it true that, following United’s recent win over Aston Villa, Federico Macheda’s Facebook details now show, “You have been poked by 75,000 people?” Hey, how does it feel after?

Bayern Munich @ Barcelona, 0-4. A superb demolition job by Barca; it was supposed to be a high-scoring affair for both teams but the visitors got smothered big time by the home team’s three-man frontline: Lionel Messi scored two while Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o had one apiece. Jurgen Klinsmann’s face at the third minute and all throughout the game spelled helplessness and frustration, and that’s exactly how Bayern should feel, disappointing all fans who expected a goal-fest.

Side note: Hans-Jorg Butt, Bayern’s goalkeeper, got smacked big time time in face by Henry’s boot after defending against the charging Frenchman; it was followed by a long stoppage, then by the goalkeeper taking off his kit and walking towards the end of the box. I thought he was going to be subbed out, but it turned out that he was just going to change uniforms to replace the bloodied one. Then, with those red marks across one side of his face, he got the ball and readied the goal kick.

Chelsea @ Liverpool, 3-1. I had a hard time watching the game after Chelsea scored their second goal; sure, I was ecstatic by the fifteenth minute of this game and the other one at Camp Nou, with both of my favorite teams up by one and two, respectively. However, while one went ahead and completely obliterated the opposition, the other crumbled and conceded three goals, two to a second-string defender, even! I can’t take anything away from Branislav Ivanovic: he was so consistent he scored twice from the same spot, so props to him. It was all the more frustrating to see the Diving Ivorian seal the deal with a third goal.

It ruined my day when Chelsea eliminated Liverpool last year in this same tournament, and now it seems like it’s happening all over again.

Side note: Ivanovic’s two-goal success last night was a testament to the Big Aristotle’s wisdom. He has been quoted saying:

“If you go around the league, anybody with the last name ‘vich’ is a great shooter. Radmanovic, Vujacic… all those ‘iches.”

- Shaquille O’Neal, on his nickname Shaqovich