updated 3:59 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2012
LONDON - Manchester City scored a dramatic 3-2 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, leaving Manchester United its only likely rival for the Premier League title.
Third-place Tottenham rallied from 2-0 down to tie the score. But Jermain Defoe missed an injury-time chance for Tottenham and Mario Balotelli won the game for City with a penalty kick he earned himself.
Fouled by Tottenham's Ledley King, the Italy striker took a step, paused and shot past U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel to give City its 11th win from 11 home games.
City is eight points ahead of Tottenham. Defending champion United is three behind in second place after a 2-1 win at Arsenal.
"We created an amazing amount of chances and to only score two is a bit disappointing," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "We should have rammed home our advantage in the first half."
Antonio Valencia scored United's first goal and set up the winner over an Arsenal team that slipped 18 points behind City and five behind the final Champions League qualifying berth.
Arsenal is five points behind fourth-place Chelsea ? which drew 0-0 at Norwich on Saturday ? and 18 behind City. Newcastle trails Arsenal on goal difference after Clint Dempsey's hat trick gave Fulham a 5-2 win over the Magpies on Saturday.
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MADRID (AP) ? Lionel Messi scored a rare header in his hat trick to lead Barcelona to a 4-1 win at Malaga, keeping the pressure on Spanish leader Real Madrid ahead of its game against Athletic Bilbao.
Messi started the rout in the 33rd minute and then added two more after Alexis Sanchez had doubled the lead at the start of the second half. The Argentine has a league-high 22 goals this season, one more than Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.
Madrid will be trying to shake off its midweek loss to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, with its fierce rivals trailing by two points in the standings midway through the season.
"There is a long way to go, all the second half of the season, and we will keep pushing all the way," Messi said.
Barcelona will try to protect its 2-1 advantage over Madrid at Camp Nou on Wednesday, and coach Pep Guardiola seemed to have the second leg in mind. Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas and Carles Puyol were left on the bench.
Third-place Valencia slipped to a 1-1 draw at Osasuna after being reduced to 10 men and conceding a stoppage-time equalizer to Manuel "Lolo" Ortiz. Mallorca edged out Rayo Vallecano 1-0.
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PARIS (AP) ? Lyon needed late goals to beat Lucon 2-0 and avoid a humiliating draw with an amateur opponent as the seven-time league champions reached the last 16 of the French Cup.
Bafetimbi Gomis pounced on a loose ball before firing into the top corner in the 75th minute. Lisandro Lopez sealed the win for the visitors in the last minute following a counterattack. The Argentine played a one-two with Alexandre Lacazette and slammed the ball into the roof of the net.
Valenciennes and Gazelec Ajaccio also advanced. Foued Kadir shone in Valenciennes' 3-1 win over 10-man Bastia with two goals and an assist while third-division Gazelec Ajaccio beat second-tier Troyes 1-0.
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BERLIN (AP) ? Borussia Dortmund pulled even with Bayern Munich and Schalke at the top of the Bundesliga following a 5-1 rout at Hamburger SV in the first round after the winter break.
Robert Lewandowski and Jakub Blaszczykowski both scored twice to help Dortmund send Hamburg coach Thorsten Fink to his first league defeat after eight games unbeaten.
Dortmund climbed ahead of Schalke to second behind Bayern on goal difference, while Moenchengladbach is a point behind the top three.
Bayer Leverkusen beat Mainz 3-2 but squandered a two-goal lead Lars Bender before put the home team back in front with a header from a corner in the 70th.
"Lars saved us," Leverkusen forward Andre Schuerrle said. "Hopefully the win means the team will be left in peace."
Many Dortmund fans traveled to Hamburg but remained outside the stadium to protest the cost of tickets, which start at more than $24 for a standing ticket.
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ROME (AP) ? AC Milan and Udinese won to keep it a rare three-way race for the Serie A title with Juventus at the Italian season's midpoint.
Milan won 3-0 at last-place Novara with two goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and another from Robinho, while Pablo Armero and Antonio Di Natale scored to steer Udinese to a 2-1 victory over Catania.
Juventus, which beat Atalanta 2-0 Saturday, holds a one-point lead over Milan and is three points in front of Udinese, which has never finished higher than third.
For the most part, the Serie A title race has been a two-team affair in recent seasons, with Inter Milan winning five consecutive championships from 2006-10 and Milan taking the title last year.
In other matches, it was: Lecce 2, Chievo Verona 2; Palermo 5, Genoa 3; Siena 1, Napoli 1; and Cagliari 0, Fiorentina 0.
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AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Dutch league leader AZ Alkmaar had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Ajax after conceding a late own-goal that kept it in first place by a point.
Simon Poulsen put the ball in his own net in the 75th minute after Rasmus Elm had given Alkmaar a 37th-minute lead from a free kick.
The gap at the top remained unchanged, with second-place PSV Eindhoven playing to a draw at Utrecht.
Also Sunday, Leroy George scored the only goal of the game to give NEC Nijmegen its first win at Vitesse since 1979.
On Saturday, former England coach Steve McClaren marked his Eredivisie return with a victory, his Twente club romping past RKC Waalwijk 5-0.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsBalotelli lifts Man City
??Mario Balotelli scored a stoppage-time penalty kick Sunday to give first-place Manchester City a 3-2 victory over Premier League title rival Tottenham.
Getty ImagesHat trick
Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46085861/ns/sports-soccer/
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