Chelsea rumbles into FA Cup final

LONDON (AP) ― Chelsea sealed a meeting with Liverpool in the FA Cup final after thrashing London rival Tottenham 5-1 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday thanks to some ruthless finishing and a controversial goal that will reignite the debate over goal-line technology.

The decision to award a 49th-minute goal to Juan Mata, putting Chelsea ahead 2-0, appeared to be wrong after video replays suggested the ball hadn’t crossed the line when it was cleared away by Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

In the Premier League, Wayne Rooney scored twice as Manchester United beat Aston Villa 4-0 on Sunday to restore its five-point lead over crosstown rival Manchester City.

Mata’s disputed goal added to Didier Drogba’s superb opener just before halftime and although Gareth Bale pulled a goal back in the 56th, Chelsea sealed the victory through classy strikes by Ramires, Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda in the final 13 minutes.

“That second goal was a disaster,” Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said. “It was an honest mistake but when you look at it, it was nowhere near over the line.”

Despite eventually losing by a four-goal margin, Redknapp said referee Martin Atkinson’s awarding of the second goal proved crucial as it forced him to go on the attack in the final 20 minutes, leaving his defense open.

“We need goal-line technology, surely. You can’t have situations like that,” said Redknapp, who revealed that Atkinson had acknowledged his mistake when the pair spoke after the match. “I’m not going to sit here and say we would have won. But if you aren’t behind, you don’t go and open up as we did.”

Atkinson made the decision, not his linesman, even though there was a mass of bodies on the line after a number of players fell in a heap after competing for a high ball in a melee in the six-yard box.

“I find it hard to believe he could see it from where he was,” Spurs defender Ledley King said.

Former Villa player Ashley Young again came under scrutiny after appearing to exaggerate some contact with defender Ciaran Clark to earn a seventh-minute penalty, which was converted by Rooney at Old Trafford.

Spain

Radamel Falcao scored his 30th goal in all competitions this season to give Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win at Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish capital derby.

Falcao made the breakthrough in the 64th minute when he latched onto Juanfran Torres’ long pass, dribbled past goalkeeper David Cobeno as he rushed off his line and shot into the open net. The Colombia striker’s tally of 22 league goals is the third highest in Spain this season.

Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol also stayed in the hunt for a Europa League spot with home wins.

The victories left Atletico, Bilbao and Espanyol level with Sevilla, which plays Getafe on Monday. All are one point behind sixth-place Osasuna after its 1-0 loss at Real Betis.

France

Paris Saint-Germain failed to take advantage of a defeat for French title rival Montpellier as it conceded a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw at last-place Auxerre.

PSG has drawn three and lost one if its last five league games and is two points behind Montpellier with six games remaining. Montpellier had earlier slipped to a 2-1 defeat at struggling Lorient.

Germany

Borussia Moenchengladbach outclassed Cologne to win the Rhine derby 3-0 and leave the visitors mired in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone.

The return of Frank Schaefer as interim coach in place of Stale Solbakken, who was fired Thursday, failed to prevent Cologne slumping to its 18th defeat of the season.

Juan Arango put Borussia ahead with a precise free kick in the 19th minute, Tony Jantschke made it 2-0 in the 53rd and Marco Reus completed the scoring two minutes later.

Moenchengladbach moved within a point of third-place Schalke in the automatic Champions League spot.

Scotland

Hearts scored an injury-time penalty to upset Celtic 2-1 on Sunday and set up a meeting with Edinburgh rival Hibernian in the Scottish Cup final.

Substitite Craig Beattie, a former Celtic player, converted a spot kick that was awarded after Joe Ledley blocked a shot from Marius Zaliuskas with his arm.