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Leverkusen’s Son Heung-min (left) and Bayern’s Franck Ribery vie for the ball on Saturday. (AP-Yonhap) |
LONDON (AP) ― Chelsea lost for the first time in 22 matches this season, a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday, and the Blues’ English Premier League lead was trimmed to three points by Manchester City.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s record-setting 23rd La Liga hat trick led first-place Real Madrid over Celta Vigo.
Papiss Cisse scored in the 57th and 78th minutes as Newcastle opened a two-goal lead. Didier Drogba got a goal for Chelsea in the 83rd, two minutes after Steven Taylor was given a red card for a studs-up tackle on Andre Schuerrle.
Chelsea had started 11-0-3 in the Premier League, 3-0-2 in the Champions League and 2-0 in the League Cup.
Man City won 1-0 at home against Everton as Yaya Toure beat American goalkeeper Tim Howard with a penalty kick in the 24th minute after referee Andre Marriner ruled Phil Jagielka impeded James Milner. City’s Sergio Aguero, the league’s top scorer with 14 goals, limped off in tears after injuring a left knee ligament in the second minute.
Arsenal missed a chance to climb into the top four by losing 3-2 at Stoke. Peter Crouch scored 19 seconds in ― the quickest EPL goal this season ― and Bojan Krkic and Jonathan Walters added first-half goals.
Liverpool and Tottenham failed to make up ground in the race for the Champions League places, drawing 0-0 at home to likely relegation candidates Sunderland and Crystal Palace. American forward Jozy Altidore made his first league start of the season for the Black Cats and played until the 69th minute.
Ronaldo converted a penalty kick in the 36th minute, then added goals in the 65th and 81st. He has 23 Spanish league hat tricks, one more Alfredo Di Stefano and Telmo Zarra. With four hat tricks this season, Ronaldo has 28 in his club career, including 27 for Real Madrid.
Real leads the league by four points over defending champion Atletico Madrid, which won 2-0 at Elche on goals by Jose Gimenez and Mario Mandzukic. Barcelona, another point back, hosts Espanyol on Sunday.
Promoted Cordoba’s 42-year wait for a top-tier victory ended with a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Nabil Ghilas’ 23rd-minute goal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain rallied to beat Nantes 2-1 and move into the French league lead by two points over Marseille, which plays Metz on Sunday.
American midfielder Alejandro Bedoya had put Nantes in front in the eighth minute with a 25-yard right-footed shot, his first league goal this season.
American forward Aron Johannsson scored in the 25th minute for AZ Alkmaar in a 2-0 win at home over Go Ahead Eagles in the Eredivisie.
A member of the U.S. World Cup team, Johannsson scored Nov. 22 against Vitesse after returning from ankle surgery in July and a groin injury in September.
Bayern Munich remained undefeated in Germany and had a seven-point lead after Franck Ribery scored his 100th goal for the club in a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Second-place Wolfsburg won 3-1 at Hannover, and Augsburg jumped over Leverkusen into third place with its 2-1 win in Cologne.
Roma rallied from two goals down for a 2-2 draw against Sassuolo with a stoppage-time equalizer from Adem Ljajic but missed the opportunity to close the gap on Serie A leader Juventus.
Ljajic, who got Roma back into the match with a penalty kick, earned a point for the hosts with practically the game’s last kick.
