Football Mania

Barcelona notched up the pressure on La Liga leaders Real Madrid with a 4-0 home win over Getafe as Alexis Sanchez scored twice on the day that the Spanish club’s defender Eric Abidal had a liver transplant.

Tuesday’s victory left the defending champions a single point behind their archrivals, who face a testing derby match at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

It was Barcelona’s 10th straight league win, and put Josep Guardiola equal second on the club’s all-time La Liga victories list with 112 as coach, matching Frank Rijkaard. [...]

Sergio Aguero struck twice to give City a commanding lead before setting up Carlos Tevez to side-foot home his first goal since May last year.

David Silva’s superb chip completed the rout for the dominant home side.

Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat at Wigan lets City back into a title race they were seemingly out of before kick-off. [...]

Shaun Maloney’s fine 20-yard finish early in the second half reduced United’s lead at the top of the table to five points as Manchester City closed the gap with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion.

And more importantly from Wigan’s point of view, it was a win that moved them out of the bottom three and was richly deserved as their traditional late season improvement gathers considerable momentum. [...]

UEFA Champions League has the head-to-head records ahead of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals as final hosts FC Bayern München face Real Madrid CF and holders FC Barcelona play Chelsea FC.

The Argentine scored two goals in the 4-1 La Liga win over Real Zaragoza on Saturday, as they cut the gap on table topping Real Madrid to three points.

The 24-year-old is now seven goals behind Gerd Muller’s all-time record for goals in a season.

The German legend netted 67 times for Bayern Munich in the 1972-73 campaign.

Barcelona were given an early scare at La Romareda, when the Aragonese side took the lead on the half-hour mark through Carlos Aranda’s goal.

However, after Carles Puyol levelled matters in the 36th minute, Messi made it 2-1 to Barcelona three minutes later with a finish from 15 yards from an Alexis Sanchez pass.

His second came from the penalty spot with four minutes of the game remaining, and Pedro completed the scoring for Barcelona with a fourth goal in the final minute.

Peter Crouch header earns Potters three points to leave Wolves in trouble

Defender Robert Huth fires in Stoke’s equaliser against Wolves at the Britannia Stadium

Stoke City 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Peter Crouch’s second-half header earned Stoke City victory to leave Wolves struggling at the bottom of the Barclays Premier League.

Crouch headed in a Jermaine Pennant cross just after the hour mark to complete a fine comeback and move Stoke up to 11th in the division.

Wolves took the lead when Michael Kightly’s ball into the box sailed straight into the Stoke net, but the Potters levelled when Robert Huth fired home before Crouch won it to leave Wolves six points adrift of safety.

Chelsea leave it late to beat Wigan, while Bolton and Blackburn both lose

Juan Mata bundles in a late winner for Chelsea against Wigan at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea 2-1 Wigan Athletic

Chelsea left it until injury time to seal victory over Wigan and keep up the pressure on the top four in the Barclays Premier League.

The Blues were denied by some stunning Ali Al-Habsi saves in the first half, but they took the lead after the break when Branislav Ivanovic bundled in from close range.

Wigan equalised with eight minutes left when Mohamed Diame slammed in a left-foot shot from 18 yards, but Chelsea broke their hearts in stoppage time when Fernando Torres’ superb volley struck a post, hit Juan Mata and flew over the line.