The Wet

MADRID (AFP) – Real Madrid trail Barcelona by nine points going into next Saturday's 'El Clasico' at Camp Nou after the double champions fell to a 4-3 home defeat to Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.

Real came from 3-1 down to level at 3-3 but Renato headed the winner four minutes from time to sink ten-man Real who had Arjen Robben sent off on 77 minutes.

Real coach Bernd Schuster knows defeat in Barcelona would leave his team a staggering 12 points behind their arch-rivals and Dutch winger Robben will now miss the Barcelona clash through suspension as will Brazilian defender Marcelo.

"There is no question that Barcelona are on fire at the moment," said Schuster. "I can't talk of winning at Camp Nou at the moment. We just have to think about making a game of it.

"Things didn't go our way tonight but not everything is bad luck. Their first two goals were bad marking from set-pieces."

Real got off to a nightmare start conceding after just three minutes when the usually reliable Iker Casillas flapped at a cross and Adriano was at the backpost to accept the Christmas gift bundling the ball home.

Captain Raul equalised on 18 minutes with a well-timed glancing header from a precise Guti cross.

Real looked threatening but their defence looked frail and the lanky Koffi Ndri Romaric headed in a corner three minutes after the equaliser to make it 2-1.

Even though Sevilla, who were trounced 3-0 by Barcelona in their last match, were without their top striker Luis Fabiano through suspension, they were causing untold problems and struck again on 38 minutes.

Renato saw his shot blocked and the ball fell to Frederic Kanoute who showed a cool head to stroke the ball into the corner.

The home fans, donning rain coats to combat the torrential rain in Madrid, jeered their side at the interval.

Schuster took off Rafael van der Vaart for compatriot Roysten Drenthe at half-time to try and give the team more width.

Higuain scored a brilliant individual goal - his 10th of the season - rifling in a shot on 66 minutes to get his team back in the game and Gago headed in the equaliser two minutes later after some slack marking.

But Renato was wide open to score the winner on 84 minutes to inflict Real's first league home defeat since March 23 when they lost 3-2 to Valencia.

Sevilla go above Real into fourth spot and are level on points with third-placed Valencia.

"We believe in ourselves and that we can win at any ground," said Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez. "Real are good at coming from behind and they showed that. It is not easy to win at the Bernabeu so we are happy."

Barcelona crushed title rivals Valencia 4-0 at Camp Nou on Saturday and now sit six points clear of Villarreal and nine ahead of Real.

Thierry Henry scored a hat-trick as Barca extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 20 games and they have seven points more than at the same stage last season.

Espanyol coach Jose Manuel Esnal, better known as 'Mane', ended a run of four straight league defeats with a 1-1 draw at Real Betis but the club are still in the bottom three.

Mane, best remembered for guiding tiny Alaves to the 2001 UEFA Cup final where they lost to Liverpool, replaced Bartolome Marquez last weekend after Espanyol failed to collect a point from their last four matches.

Earlier, Recreativo Huelva registered only their second win of the season to move off the bottom with a 3-2 win over Real Mallorca.

Osasuna replace Recre at the bottom and only had themselves to blame after throwing away a 3-0 lead against Valladolid who fought back to level at 3-3.

Numancia, the only team to beat Barcelona in the league this season, surged out of the bottom three with a 2-1 home win over Almeria.

LIVERPOOL (AFP) – Rafael Benitez told disgruntled Liverpool fans to enjoy their side sitting on top of the Premier League table despite the frustration of a goalless draw at home to West Ham.

The point was enough for Liverpool to leapfrog Chelsea at the summit but Liverpool's players were left under no illusion as to what their supporters thought as they trudged off to a round of boos on Monday night.

Nine days after being held by Fulham at Anfield, Benitez's side were forced to endure more frustration but the Spanish manager refused to dwell on the negatives.

"Sometimes people are disappointed not to win, but sometimes you have to enjoy, especially when you are top of the table," said Benitez.

"The crowd can be disappointed after a draw at home.

"But when they go home and look at the table they will see us at the top of the table.

"If we had scored the first goal we would have scored a lot of goals."

Liverpool now boast four successive clean sheets yet their failure to score for the second straight Premier League match is a cause of concern.

With Fernando Torres recovering from another hamstring injury, the Liverpool manager opted to pair Robbie Keane with Dirk Kuyt.

Yet Keane remains stuck on two league goals since his expensive move from Tottenham in the summer and this was another disappointing performance by the Ireland captain.

Asked whether he thought any of his players were suffering from a lack of confidence, Benitez said: "Maybe some players are."

But the Spaniard dismissed reports that he was weighing up a move to bring Newcastle striker Michael Owen back to Anfield.

"Clearly I can guarantee that we are not going for Owen," added Benitez, who confirmed afterwards that he has yet to sign his new contract with the club.

"The team played much better than before.

"Some people can be disappointed, and we are disappointed not to win, but we are top of the table.

"If we keep winning then we will stay there.

"Against Fulham we didn't play well. In this game we had plenty of possession and we had chances. We were much better in this game."

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola believes Liverpool will remain serious contenders for the title despite dropping more home points.

"They will be there until the end," said Zola, after West Ham ended a run of seven straight league defeats at Anfield.

"You have to take into account that it is not easy to play after a Champions League match. I know what it's like because I have experienced it.

"Liverpool were also missing a very important player in Torres. This is going to be a very close title race."

Zola praised Robert Green after the keeper produced a magnificent save to deny Yossi Benayoun in the second half.

Green has been on the fringes of the England side but remains behind David James in Fabio Capello's plans.

"He had some stick but he is now getting what he deserves," said Zola.

"He looks very, very comfortable. He knows what he has to do and he knows that he has to perform every week like this."

Although West Ham had reason to be grateful to Green, they actually came closest to breaking the deadlock when Craig Bellamy's long-range strike hit the post in the first half.

Zola's men then might have snatched all three points right at the end when Luis Boa Morte fluffed a close-range chance.

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) – Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Manchester United's steely will-to-win could make the difference in the title race after his side's 1-0 victory at Manchester City.

United played the final 22 minutes down to 10 men at Eastlands after Cristiano Ronaldo's red card for deliberate handball, but the champions held firm to keep the pressure on Chelsea and Liverpool.

After dominating for long periods and finally taking the lead through Wayne Rooney's 42nd minute strike, United had to endure a nervous finale and Ferguson was impressed with the way they keep their focus.

"We needed three points. We are behind Liverpool and Chelsea. We are chasing them and we needed to win the game to get ourselves near them," Ferguson said.

"We have had a significant result and I hope it makes a difference.

"Our focus was good. In some away games this season our second-half performance has been disappointing. We threw the game away at Liverpool and threw three points away at Everton.

"Last week our game dropped against Aston Villa and I think that was down to focus and our focus was great."

Even Ferguson, notoriously capable of lambasting officials for perceived slights against his team, couldn't work himself up over Howard Webb's decision to dismiss Ronaldo in the 68th minute.

Ronaldo, who had been booked nine minutes earlier for clattering into Shaun Wright-Phillips, picked-up his second yellow card of the game when he strangely handled a corner from Rooney.

Webb was left with no choice but to dismiss Ronaldo, who had earlier clapped the Yorkshire official sarcastically after being shown his first caution.

Ferguson insisted Ronaldo's dismissal had been an innocent mistake, but he refused to criticise Webb.

"I have seen the incident again on television and he's tried to protect his face from the ball hitting it," Ferguson said.

"He thought he had heard a whistle. But I'm not going to go into referees or the decision.

"Sometimes you have to overcome such adversity and that is what we did. I thought we were excellent, particularly in the first half.

"Manchester City came back at us in the second half but we showed great character and resilience, especially after Cristiano's sending off. I don't think Manchester City caused us too many problems."

City manager Mark Hughes insisted Webb had no choice but to send off Ronaldo and also revealed Robinho had been forced to have a painkilling injection before kick off to enable him to play.

Hughes said: "He hasn't trained all week so it was no surprise that he looked a little off the pace. He had to have an injection so he could play.

"I think we showed Manchester United too much respect in the first half. We lacked the energy has our play has had in recent weeks and this might be a consequence of us having had a hard week.

"United were just that little bit quicker to the ball. We had to force the issue in the second half but I think the sending off didn't help us as much as people thought it would. United got two banks of four across the pitch and they were very hard to break down.

"Good teams find a way to win and that's what United did. "Why didn't he (Ronaldo) head it? It could be viewed as a soft sending off but I don't think the referee had a choice.

"United have players with big experience of winning trophies. My players don't have this quality yet but it is something we are working towards and we are heading in the right direction.

"We have come off second best today but we can take heart from the second half performance and it's no disgrace to lose to a side of Manchester United's quality."

LONDON (AFP) – Robin van Persie rocketed Arsenal back into the English Premier League title race with a quickfire double that stunned leaders Chelsea in a 2-1 away win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

In a keenly-contested London derby filled with end-to-end action, the Blues were 1-0 up thanks to Switzerland defender Johan Djourou's 30th-minute own goal.

But Netherlands striker Van Persie, making his 100th start for the Gunners, equalised with a controversial offside goal in the 59th minute and stunned the hosts with a second goal three minutes later.

Arsenal's title hopes would have been dealt a severe blow by a defeat that would have left them 13 points off the pace and having suffered three consecutive league defeats.

But the manner of their victory at what was the most difficult ground in England to win at will have surely sent notice to the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool that the Gunners are in no mood to give up the race.

Chelsea, who had not been beaten at home in the league for 86 games before their 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on October 26, have now lost two of their last four Premier League ties at Stamford Bridge.

The result means Arsenal are in fourth place, seven points behind the leaders ahead of second-placed Liverpool's match at home to West Ham on Monday.

Chelsea had the better of the opening exchanges and striker Salomon Kalou was played clean through on goalkeeper Manuel Almunia in the fourth minute but his run was ruled offside.

Almunia had to punch twice to clear a cross soon after and former Gunners striker Nicolas Anelka fired another early shot wide.

However, Arsenal swiftly replied and Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech did well to stop a low shot from Samir Nasri before Denilson blazed a shot over the crossbar in the 16th minute.

Chelsea full-back Jose Boswinga jinked through the Arsenal right flank but fired over the bar two minutes later.

Almunia had to be alert in the 21st minute when Deco played Kalou clean through with an excellent pass, charging out of his penalty area to clear the danger.

Frank Lampard then wasted a great chance, firing a free header from Boswinga's cross straight at Almunia.

However, the Blues did not have to wait long to open the scoring.

Almunia caught a Lampard corner and casually rolled the ball out, with Chelsea easily recovering possession. Boswinga crossed in low from the right and Djourou slid in, inadvertently sending the ball beyond Almunia.

Kalou could have doubled Chelsea's lead five minutes before the break. Anelka flicked on a header into the box but Almunia was quickly off his line to gather Kalou's shot.

Denilson then miscued a chance to equalise at the other end, firing his shot over the bar.

Lampard wasted a good chance to kill the game six minutes after the break when Arsenal failed to clear their lines, but he screwed his shot wide of the post.

But within minutes, Chelsea's hopes of sealing victory were crushed by Van Persie's rapid brace.

Chelsea were the only side in English professional football not to have conceded a second-half goal in a league game this season before the Dutchman hit the target with a controversial strike.

Emmanuel Adebayor won a header which Denilson chested down before playing Van Persie through.

The striker, half a yard offside, blasted his shot past Cech to level the match 59 minutes in.

And if that stunned the hosts, worse was to come three minutes later as the Dutchman fired in his second.

Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas played a free kick into the penalty box which Adebayor headed back across goal for Van Persie.

With his back to goal, Van Persie turned Lampard and blasted his shot in across Cech to shock Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari threw on forward Florent Malouda in place of John Obi Mikel with 20 minutes to go in a bid to force an equaliser.

The Frenchman fired a free kick over the bar in the 77th minute and Deco shot likewise four minutes later as the hosts urgently sought a leveller.

Scolari then brought on pacy winger Miroslav Stoch in place of Deco but the academy graduate could do nothing to alter the outcome as Arsenal successfully hung on to send a message to the rest of the Premier League that they are still in the title race.

CLEVELAND – Browns quarterback Brady Quinn will miss the remainder of Cleveland's season with a broken right index finger he made worse by playing on Sunday, according to several reports.

Citing unnamed sources, FOXsports.com and the Cleveland Plain Dealer said the break on Quinn's finger worsened after he tried to play through the injury on Sunday in a loss to the Houston Texans. Quinn initially broke the tip of the finger and damaged a tendon in his second career start on Nov. 17 at Buffalo.

Quinn flew to Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday to have the injury examined by noted orthopedist Dr. James Andrews. The second-year QB was then advised by Andrews as well as specialists brought in by the Browns to end his season with five games left before the tendon tore from the bone.

Last week, Quinn was presented with three options: play through pain, immobilize the break for 4-to-6 weeks or have surgery, the Plain Dealer reported.

"Brady wanted to play," the source told the paper. "If it was going to be fixed a week ago, it would have been virtually the same thing. Nobody had any idea what would happen if he'd just gone out and played with it. Doctors viewed it before then and thought he was OK to play."

Quinn is now debating whether to have surgery.

Browns spokesman Bill Bonsiewicz told the Associated Press that Quinn will meet with medical personnel and the coaching staff on Wednesday morning and that coach Romeo Crennel will update Quinn's injury during his 11 a.m. news conference.

If Quinn can't play, Derek Anderson, who lost his starting job to Quinn three weeks ago, will start Sunday when the Browns host the Indianapolis Colts.

Browns general manager Phil Savage did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

Quinn's agent, Tom Condon, did not return phone calls.

Quinn was benched in the fourth quarter on Sunday by Crennel after throwing two interceptions in Cleveland's 16-6 loss to the Texans. Crennel said he put in Anderson, his former starter and a Pro Bowler last season, to spark the team and because of misreads by Quinn as well as his injury.

Quinn refused to blame the injury after the game for his poor performance — 8 of 18 for 94 yards — and was puzzled by Crennel's decision to pull him with the game still in doubt.

Despite the sudden benching, Crennel said Quinn had not lost his job and that he would start against the Colts.

Quinn's injury is the latest drama to befall the 4-7 Browns, who have been a major disappointment this season after winning 10 games in 2007.

In addition to an assortment of injuries, wide receiver Braylon Edwards has dropped crucial passes; tight end Kellen Winslow criticized the team for its handling of his hospitalization for a staph infection and was briefly suspended; Quinn took over for Anderson; and Savage sent a fan a profane e-mail.

On Wednesday, owner Randy Lerner spoke to the media for the first time in more than a year and said he would wait until after the season before deciding on the future of Crennel and Savage.

The Browns wanted to spend the remainder of the season to evaluate, the former Notre Dame star who they drafted with the No. 22 overall pick in 2007. Although Browns fans wanted to see the popular Quinn sooner, he didn't make his NFL debut until the season finale last season and was Anderson's backup for the first eight games before making his first start on Nov. 6 against Denver.