Man United surges to EPL lead

LONDON (AP) ― Manchester United took over the Premier League lead at the end of a round of games for the first time since Oct. 15, beating West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Sunday on a pair of goals by Wayne Rooney as Manchester City lost 1-0 at Swansea.

Rooney deflected in a shot by Javier Hernandez in the 35th minute at Old Trafford, then converted a penalty kick in the 71st after Keith Andrews fouled Ashley Young. Rooney increased his season total to 26 goals, including 20 in the league.

At Swansea, Luke Moore scored on a close-ranger header in the 83rd minute.

Defending champion United (21-3-4) has 67 points, one more than City (21-4-3), which is seeking its first league title since 1968. Ten games remain for each team.

United is hoping to extend its record for English league titles to 20.

“We’ve turned it around and credit to the players for that. They have shown great resilience and determination,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “We won’t get nervous. We have the experience. We will keep on playing and it is good to see that type of temperament.”

While City is 14-0 at home, it is 7-4-3 on the road.

“The lead can change every game but it is important to start winning and scoring again,” City manager Roberto Mancini said. “All the players at this moment are tired, but we have a lot of energy to go top again and there are 10 games to play.”

City’s schedule includes games at home against Chelsea and at Arsenal. The Manchester rivals meet April 30, with City hosting.

In the day’s other match, last-place Wigan (4-15-9) earned a point in the fight against relegation with a 1-1 draw at Norwich. Wigan is a point behind Wolverhampton and Queens Park Rangers (both 5-16-7), who are also in the relegation zone, and two shy of Bolton (7-19-2).

Spain

Lionel Messi scored twice to reach 50 goals for the second straight season and lead Barcelona to a 2-0 win at Racing Santander in the Spanish league.

Messi broke through Racing’s 10-man defense in the 29th minute, laying the ball off to Cesc Fabregas and then sliding to knock in Fabregas’ cross with his left foot from four yards. The three-time FIFA World Player of the Year converted a penalty kick in the 56th after Fabregas was fouled by Domingo Cisma.

“Messi stands out from every other player in the world,” Fabregas said. “It is a pleasure to play with him and to have him on the same team because he gives you that extra dose of confidence that every champion needs.”

After scoring 53 goals in 55 games last season, Messi has reached 50 goals in 43 matches this season. Including his first international hat trick for Argentina, Messi has 16 goals in his last six matches for club and country, boosted by a record five in the Champions League last Wednesday against Bayern Leverkusen.

With 230 goals in 312 games since his debut in 2004, the 24-year-old is five goals shy of matching Cesar Rodriguez’s Barcelona club record, set in 351 matches from 1942-55.

Messi reached 30 league goals for the third straight season and is two behind Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who leads with 32. Real Madrid (23-2-1) has 70 points and a 10-point lead over three-time La Liga champion Barcelona (18-2-6).

Italy

AC Milan beat Lecce 2-0 to open a four-point lead in the Serie A over Juventus, which tied Genoa 0-0 for its 14th league draw of the season.

Antonio Nocerino scored for AC Milan in the seventh minute and Zlatan Ibrahimovic doubled the lead in the 65th with his league-leading 19th goal.

In Genoa, Juventus hit the crossbar once and the posts twice in the second half, moving within four of the record for most draws in a 20-team Serie A season, set by Inter Milan in 2004-05.

AC Milan (17-4-5), seeking its second straight title, has 57 points. Juventus (13-0-14), which extended its unbeaten streak to 31 games, has 53.

Third-place Lazio (14-7-6) lost 3-1 at home to Bologna, which got goals from Daniele Portanova, Alessandro Diamanti and Rene Krhin. That left Napoli (12-5-10) just two points back of Lazio for third place and the final Champions League berth.

Germany

Claudio Pizarro scored one goal and set up another to help Werder Bremen beat Hannover 3-0 and remain in sixth place, the Bundesliga’s last Europa League berth.

Pizarro, who had earlier drawn a great save from Ron-Robert Zieler, scored his 16th goal of the season in the 31st minute.

Mehmet Ekici’s free kick enabled Sebastian Proedl to make it 2-0 with a header in the 49th. Pizarro then sent Markus Rosenberg through to slot the ball under Zieler’s legs seven minutes later.

Hannover is four points behind Breme in seventh.

Schalke extended its league unbeaten streak to eight with a 3-1 win over Hamburg on goals by Temmu Pukki in the fifth minute and Christoph Metzelder in the 26th, and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s penalty kick in the 33rd. Gojko Kacar scored for Hamburg in the 45th.

France

Substitute Kevin Gameiro scored in injury time as first-place Paris Saint-Germain won 2-1 at Dijon to stay one point ahead of Montpellier, which cruised to a 3-0 home win over Caen.

PSG played a man short after midfielder Mohamed Sissoko, who was returning from a suspension, was ejected in the 40th minute. Siaka Tiene put the visitors ahead in the 49th minute, but Steven Paulle tied it for Dijon in the 75th. Gameiro entered in the 79th and scored in the first minute of injury time.

Scotland

Celtic breezed into the Scottish Cup semifinals by overwhelming Dundee United 4-0.

Joe Ledley, Georgios Samaras, Anthony Stokes and Scott Brown scored in the second half for the Premier League leaders, who stayed on course for the league-cup double.