Torres gets Chelsea hat trick

LONDON (AP) ― Fernando Torres got his first hat trick in more than 2 1/2 years on Sunday to lead Chelsea to a 6-1 English Premier League win over Queens Park Rangers.

Tottenham returned to fourth place with a 2-0 win over Blackburn, moving ahead of Newcastle on goal difference and pulling three points back of third-place Arsenal. Chelsea trails the Spurs by a point with three games remaining.

Defending champion Manchester United holds a three-point lead over second-place Manchester City heading into Monday’s game between the rivals at Etihad Stadium.

In Chelsea’s first match since reaching this season’s Champions League final, Daniel Sturridge scored after 49 seconds, John Terry headed in a corner kick in the 13th minute and Torres scored in the 19th, 25th and 64th for his first three-goal game since Liverpool’s 6-1 win over Hull on Sept. 26, 2009. Florent Malouda made it 6-0 in the 80th.

Djibril Cisse scored in the 84th for QPR, which remains out of the relegation zone on goal difference over Bolton

After just eight goals in his first 61 games since joining Chelsea for $80 million, Torres has four in his past two matches.

“I was feeling very good, very sharp, playing well, but I couldn’t score,” Torres said. “Now I feel I’m not playing as well as before, but I am scoring goals, which is the important thing for the strikers.”

A large number of Chelsea fans jeered and taunted QPR defender Anton Ferdinand throughout for his accusation earlier this season that Terry had racially abused him. Terry lost the England captaincy and faces a criminal trial after the European Championship.

The furor meant that the traditional pre-match handshake between the sides was abandoned Sunday to avoid the players coming into contact outside of the game.

Spain

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 57th goal of the season, Karim Benzema added a pair and Real Madrid closed on its first Spanish league title in four years with a 3-0 victory over Sevilla.

Three-time defending champion Barcelona prevented Real from clinching by winning 7-0 at Rayo Vallecano as Lionel Messi scored twice for his 20th multigoal game this season. With four games left Messi has 65 goals, two short of the European record set by Bayern Munich’s Gerd Mueller in 1972-73.

In Madrid, Ronaldo scored in the 19th minute, and Benzema in the 48th and 52nd. Ronaldo and Messi have each scored a Spanish league-record 43 goals.

Madrid, which has set the league mark with 112 goals, maintained a seven-point lead and can clinch a record 32nd championship with a win Wednesday at Athletic Bilbao.

Messi ended a three-game scoreless streak, putting Barcelona ahead in the 16th minute and getting the final goal in the 90th. Pedro Rodriguez also had two goals, and Seydou Keita and Thiago Alcantara one each in Barcelona’s first game since coach Pep Guardiola said he was leaving at the end of the season and being replaced by assistant Tito Vilanova. Rober had an own goal for Rayo Vallecano.

Italy

Undefeated Juventus moved a step closer to the Serie A title with a 4-0 rout at neighbor Novara.

Mirko Vucinic got goals in the 16th and 64th minute, Marco Borriello scored in the 40th for goals in consecutive games and Arturo Vidal had a goal in the 50th.

Juventus is unbeaten in all 35 league matches this season, plus its four Italian Cup matches ― it faces Napoli in the May 20 final.

With three rounds remaining, Juventus remained three points ahead of defending champion AC Milan, which won 4-1 at Siena. Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 29th and the fifth minute of second-half injury time, raising his league-leading goals total to 26. Antonio Cassano scored in the 26th, first goal since minor heart surgery in November, and Antonio Nocerino got a goal in the 90th, seven minutes after Erjon Bogdani scored for the hosts.

Elsewhere, Inter Milan and Udinese both won to create a four-way tie with Lazio and Napoli for third place and the final Champions League berth.

France

Eden Hazard tied the score with a penalty kick in the 71st minute, then helped set up Nolan Roux’s goal in the 79th to lead defending champion Lille over Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 and keep alive its slim title hopes.

Javier Pastore had scored in the 48th minute for visiting PSG, which played a man short after Mamadou Sakho received a red card in the 70th. For the go-ahead goal, Hazard flicked the ball to Tulio De Melo, who nodded it back across goal for Roux to nod home.

Scotland

Scottish champion Celtic eased to a 3-0 win over Rangers, stretching its lead over its city rival to 21 points.