Spanish star Raul broke a 11-month drought in La Liga to score in Real Madrid's 1-1 tie with crosstown rival Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

Raul's goal against the team started out with as a youth came two days after Spain coach Luis Aragones left him out of Spain's squad for next week's Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden — the first time in 10 years he wasn't called up for reasons other than injury. Raul had scored two goals for Real Madrid in its 5-1 rout of Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday — his first goals for Real in La Liga or the Champions League since last October.

''He is over the mental block,'' Real coach Fabio Capello said of Raul.

With David Beckham out of the starting lineup for the fourth straight game, Real hardly looked impressive at home and had to be satisfied with a point at home after Sergio Ramos was red carded for the fourth time in the last year.

EASY PICKINGS. Gamblers around the world pounced on an obscure Scottish Second Division (third level) club's misfortunes, betting more than $5 million that it would lose.

They picked Peterhead to beat Forfar after it was revealed that nine Forfar players were injured. Peterhead-Forfar action on some British betting exchanges exceeded that for any English Premier League game as gamblers placed bets faster than the exchanges could cut the odds on a Peterhead victory.

Sure enough, Peterhead won, 8-0. To make matters worse for Forfar, it had two players ejected.

    WORLD ROUNDUP

  • ENGLAND. Manchester United moved back into a tie for first place with Chelsea in the English Premier League, beating Newcastle, 2-0, on Sunday thanks to two goals from veteran Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Chelsea had to settle for a 1-1 tie with Aston Villa on Saturday.
  • GERMANY. Five teams are tied for first place in the Bundesliga after six games, making it the closest start ever in league history. Hertha Berlin leads Nuremberg, Werder Bremen, Schalke 04 and defending champion Bayern Munich on goal difference.
  • ITALY. Inter's troubles continued as it was held to a 1-1 tie at Cagliari. The result allowed Roma, a 1-0 winner over Empoli, to take over first place in Serie A. Earlier in the week, Inter, the pre-season Italian league favorite, lost its second straight game in the Champions League.
  • MEXICO. Chivas won the ''Superclasico,'' beating archrival Club America, 2-0, in the 192nd game matching Guadalajara's and Mexico City's biggest clubs. Adolfo Bautista and Alberto Medina scored 91 seconds apart for Chivas.