[EUROPEAN RACES] Real Madrid's lead over archrival Barcelona in Spain's La Liga is stretching like an elastic band. It went from nine points at the beginning of February to two at the end of the month and back to eight after Villarreal beat Barcelona 2-1 on Sunday.
Real Madrid had come back from 2-1 down to beat Espanyol, 3-2, on Saturday thanks to goals by young Argentina Gonzalo Higuain and a penalty from Raul, his 200th league goal.
Jon Dahl Tomasson's 81st-minute goal gave Villarreal the win at the Nou Camp Stadium and moved it to within four points of Barca in second place.
ENGLAND. Manchester United's 1-0 loss to Premier League rival Portsmouth in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup at Old Trafford was tempered by the news that Arsenal was held to a 0-0 tie at Wigan in league action. The Gunners now lead United by two points, but United has a game in hand.
FRANCE. The Ligue 1 race was all but decided on Sunday when Lyon beat second-place Bordeaux, 4-2, to move closer to its seventh consecutive title. OL was led by midfielder Mathieu Bodmer with two goals in an exciting match.
GERMANY. Bayern Munich took advantage of Werder Bremen's 6-3 loss to VfB Stuttgart to move seven points clear in the Bundesliga race when it beat Karlsruhe, 2-0, for their first home league win since November.
ITALY. Leader Inter Milan celebrated its 100th anniversary with a 2-0 win over lowly Reggina and remained six points ahead of Roma in the battle for the Scudetto. Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted a disputed penalty and Nicolas Burdisso scored in the first half for the Nerazzurri.