LONDON, April 21: Manchester United remained on course to retain their Premier League title despite riding their luck in a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Olympique Lyon should also keep their domestic trophies while PSV Eindhoven wrapped up their fourth successive Dutch league title on Sunday.

ENGLAND: Manchester United suffered a huge scare as they closed in on the Premier League title, needing a late Carlos Tevez equaliser to force a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers, a point that keeps the Reds in the driving seat with three games to go.

Defeat would have meant Chelsea, who won on Thursday against Everton, could have gone above United with victory when the top two clash at Stamford Bridge next Saturday.

As it stands United have a three-point advantage and a far superior better goal difference.

Arsenal claimed only their second win in nine Premier League games, beating Reading 2-0 while Liverpool are virtually assured of finishing in fourth spot and booking a qualifier for next season’s Champions League after winning 2-0 at Fulham.

That loss left Fulham five points adrift of the safety zone and were joined in relegation place by Birmingham City who lost 5-1 to local rivals Aston Villa. Bolton Wanderers climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 defeat of Middlesbrough.

SPAIN: Real Madrid took another step towards their 31st Primera Liga title with a 2-0 win away to fifth-placed Racing Santander on Sunday.

Raul and Gonzalo Higuain scored the goals that set off some impromptu celebrations on the pitch after the final whistle, as the victory left the champions ten points clear at the top, with five games left to go.

Villarreal replaced Barcelona as Real’s closest challengers in second with 62 points, after Nihat Kahveci and Santi Cazorla scored in a 2-0 home win over struggling Valladolid.

Barca slipped down to third on 61 points after being held 0-0 at home by city rivals Espanyol on Saturday, when fourth-placed Atletico Madrid were beaten 3-1 by Real Betis at the Calderon.

Atletico have 54 points, Racing 53 and Sevilla, who were thumped 4-1 at home by Almeria, are sixth with 51

ITALY: Inter Milan went six points clear with four games left after Julio Cruz’s header sealed a hard-fought 1-0 win at struggling Torino.

The champions took advantage of second-placed AS Roma’s 1-1 draw with lowly Livorno on Saturday, when Francesco Totti suffered a serious knee injury which looks set to rule him out for four months.

Third-placed Juventus all but booked their place in next season’s Champions League qualifiers thanks to Alessandro Del Piero’s hat-trick in a 4-0 win at Atalanta.

In the battle for fourth spot, incumbents Fiorentina beat Palermo 1-0 and AC Milan thrashed strugglers Reggina 5-1 with Kaka scoring three. Sampdoria are still in the running after a 3-0 win at home to Udinese.

GERMANY: Italian Luca Toni struck twice to earn Bayern Munich a 2-1 extra-time win over Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final on Saturday.

The victory gave Bayern a record 14th win in the competition and set up a possible treble with the Bavarians 10 points clear in the Bundesliga and facing a UEFA Cup semi-final first leg against Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday.

Dortmund’s Mladen Petric had struck in the second minute of added time to force the extra period, but Toni added to his early first half strike with the 103rd minute winner.

Second from bottom Nuremberg beat UEFA Cup chasing VfL Wolfsburg 1-0 in the only Bundesliga game played at the weekend.

FRANCE: Olympique Lyon edged closer to a seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title by fighting back from a goal down to win 2-1 at 10-man Racing Strasbourg on Saturday.

Lyon have 71 points with four matches left, four ahead of second-placed Girondins Bordeaux, who needed a last-gasp Johan Micoud goal to win 1-0 at strugglers Toulouse on Sunday.

Olympique Marseille dropped out of the Champions League preliminary round place when they slumped to a 3-1 home defeat by Lille on Sunday. Nancy’s 1-1 with Le Mans on Saturday put them a point ahead in third place.

Paris St Germain are in danger of going down for the first time after losing 3-0 at Caen on Saturday. The capital club are third from bottom, three points from safety.

NETHERLANDS: PSV Eindhoven won their fourth consecutive Dutch league title after defeating Vitesse Arnhem 1-0 on Sunday thanks to a second half strike from Serbia striker Danko Lazovic.

PSV finished three points ahead of Ajax Amsterdam, 5-1 winners against Heracles Almelo, who will now play off with NAC Breda, Twente Enschede and Heerenveen for a place in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

Feyenoord finished sixth on goal difference behind Heerenveen, despite a 3-0 home win over Roda JC Kerkrade, their opponents for next week’s Dutch cup final.

Excelsior Rotterdam suffered a 5-0 defeat at Heerenveen to suffer automatic relegation.

—Reuters