Roma reignited their Serie A title hopes with a pair of penalties to stun leaders Lazio 2-0 in the Rome derby at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.
Marco Borriello and Mirko Vucinic both netted from the spot to give Claudio Ranieri’s men the honours.

AC Milan went second and closed the gap to Lazio at the top to two points as they won 3-2 at rock bottom Bari.
Roma are now seven points behind Lazio but perhaps more importantly just four behind champions Inter Milan in third.
Lazio coach Edy Reja complained that the referee had not been fair on his team.

“My players are saying, that’s enough, you can’t play against 12,” he said.

“The game was decided by certain episodes. In the previous days Roma were complaining that they never got any decisions, well they can’t do that now.

“We were denied a penalty at 1-0, (John Arne) Riise fouled (Stefano Mauri).

“For the penalty for 2-0 (Julio) Batista had already fouled (Guglielmo) Stendardo, which should have been given, and then Simplicio handled (in the area) near the end.”

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri saw things differently.

“I don’t understand what they’re complaining about, in the first half we were denied a valid goal,” he said.

“If Lazio lost because of the referee then that will only please Roma fans even more, now they will be lapping it up like the rich.”

The first half in Rome was a tight affair with few chances although Lazio captain Tommaso Rocchi was just inches away from converting Stefano Mauri’s inviting centre.

Lazio opened up Roma again on 21 minutes but Brazilian playmaker Hernanes leant back as he connected with Stefan Radu’s pull-back and smashed it high over the bar.

Simone Perrotta squeezed a shot inches wide for Roma before the visitors had the ball in the net on 43 minutes.

John Arne Riise released Borriello down the left and he crossed for Leandro Greco to slot home from close range but Borriello was hit with a narrow and debatable offisde decision.

Into first half injury time Borriello used his strength to bring down a ball on his chest but from eight yards couldn’t hook his shot on target.

And yet just after the restart Roma were deservedly in front.

Simplicio’s goal-bound shot hit Stephan Lichsteiner on the arm and although he could do little to get out of the way, the referee had no choice but to award the penalty.

Borriello’s effort was weak but it somehow managed to squeeze under Fernando Muslera’s body and over the line on 52 minutes.

Simplicio should have added a second 13 minutes from time after Riise’s bursting run down the left but the Brazilian hit the bar from 10 yards out.

Lazio then missed a glorious opportunity as Mauri failed to turn in Christian Ledesma’s free-kick from inside the six-yard box.

Vucinic kept Muslera busy with a vicious daisy-cutter from 20 yards before Pasquale Foggia crashed a back post half-volley against the woodwork from close range.

But three minutes from time Vucinic sent Muslera the wrong way from the spot after Andre Dias was harshly judged to have brought down Julio Baptista despite minimal contact.

Milan were off to a good start in the south as Massimo Ambrosini and Mathieu Flamini put them in charge in the first half.

And Pato’s goal after the break sandwiched by Vitaly Kutuzov and Paulo Barreto efforts proved the winner.

Injury-hit Juventus remain fourth after they came back from a goal down to beat 10-man Cesena 3-1.

On Saturday, champions Inter Milan needed a dubious penalty award to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Brescia.

The visitors had opened the scoring on 14 minutes through Andrea Caracciolo but Samuel Eto’o's 17th goal in 16 games this season — one more than he managed in the whole of the last campaign — from the spot 17 minutes from time levelled matters.

A shade over two months ago, in a packed auditorium in Monaco, Sisenando Maicon Douglas — known simply as Maicon by the opponents who fear him — beamed with pride as he was presented with a ball-shaped silver trophy for being the best defender in European club soccer for 2010.

How quickly a reputation can be ruined.

Gareth Bale is the one making a name for himself now. On Maicon’s back. In two astounding nights of Champions League soccer that confirmed him as Europe’s most exciting player of the moment, Bale made Maicon look silly.

He did the same to Lucio, too. Simply astonishing when one remembers that the defensive partnership between those two imposing Brazilian internationals was a foundation stone for Inter Milan’s success last season. They formed part of coach Jose Mourinho’s defensive fortress that broke Lionel Messi’s Barcelona and, in the Champions League final that followed, prevented Bayern Munich from lighting up the scoreboard at Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium.

Yet Bale blew past both defenders repeatedly on Tuesday night as though they were hardly there. Such speed. Even at full tilt, Tottenham’s wonder winger gives the impression he could, if needed, run faster still.

He is impishly cheeky with his changes of pace, too. Allowing Lucio a tempting head-start to a ball only to leave him for dead was delightful. That eel-like run from deep in Tottenham’s own half and down the left side that Bale transformed into his own personal playground came four minutes before the final whistle, so the 21-year-old has enviable stamina, too.

His manager, Harry Redknapp, joked ebulliently afterward that the post-match dope testers would be wise to take a look at Bale. Redknapp will laughing even harder if he can now fend off interest from European clubs bigger than Tottenham, and for whom money is no object, that are probably going to try to recruit such a fine creator and scorer of goals.

Based on this enthralling match, Alex Ferguson was absolutely correct in arguing this week that the Champions League offers more attractive soccer than the World Cup. Although, unlike the Manchester United manager, I would still rather watch even a poor World Cup game — and there were too many of those this year in South Africa — than visit the dentist, which he suggested would be a better use of one’s time.

And based on this match, and the teams’ previous encounter two weeks ago where Inter nearly blew a 4-0 first-half lead by allowing Bale to score a second-half hat-trick, the Italian club will not become the first Champions League winners to successfully defend that title.

Inheriting Mourinho’s team that won everything last season was always going to be risky for new manager Rafa Benitez, who seems likely to prove that the only way forward for Inter from its previous heights is down. The Spaniard who left Liverpool with memories both good and bad says he wants to preserve the best parts of Mourinho’s legacy. But it’s a safe bet that Mourinho, now at Real Madrid, would have searched his notebooks for a better strategy to try to counter Bale’s quick feet.

As it was, Maicon was utterly overwhelmed.

“He killed him,” said the scorer of Tottenham’s first goal, Rafael van der Vaart. “We have to keep this guy.”

What makes Bale more dangerous than the likes of Chelsea’s Ashley Cole or Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, who also have speed, is the superior quality of his crosses. His gift to Peter Crouch in the 25th minute, again after sprinting around Maicon, should have put Tottenham up 2-0. Having humbled Lucio, Bale was also perfect with a cross that Crouch’s replacement Roman Pavlyuchenko slotted in to make the final score 3-1.

Bale sprints with his head up, giving him vision across the field, and his speed gives him extra milliseconds of breathing space to coolly decide where to best place his pass.

Perhaps Inter should have begged the referee to adopt the same handicap that Gwyn Morris, his former sports teacher, imposed on Bale when he was still a Cardiff schoolboy and playing rugby as well as soccer and running cross-country and track. Morris says that in training games he sometimes banned Bale from playing with his favored left foot.

“Use his left foot and it was a free kick against him,” Morris says.

Unfortunately, Bale plays his international soccer for Wales. It has not reached the finals of a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and, even with Bale, isn’t likely to any time soon. So, as with fellow Welshman Ryan Giggs, much of the world will not get to savor his skills on an international stage.

What a pity.

Rennes missed out on top spot but moved to within a point of French first division leaders Brest after an engaging 1-1 draw at home to Lyon on Saturday.

Goals in either half from Jires Kembo Ekoko, for the hosts, and Michel Bastos ensured that a well-contested encounter finished all-square, allowing Rennes to hold onto second spot and keeping Lyon in 10th place.

Lyon had lost 4-3 at Benfica in the Champions League in mid-week and Rennes flew at Claude Puel’s side from the whistle, no doubt seeking to exploit any lingering fragility.

Visiting goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had already saved from Stephane Dalmat and Alexander Tettey when Kembo Ekoko broke the deadlock in the fourth minute.

The 22-year-old forward picked Kim Kallstrom’s pocket on the Lyon left and exchanged passes with Victor Hugo Montano before impudently poking the ball around Cris and finishing into the bottom-left corner.

In response, Bafetimbi Gomis drew a fine save from Rennes goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez with a clipped volley, but Romain Danze, Rod Fanni and Dalmat all came within inches of doubling Rennes’ advantage.

Kallstrom struck Douchez’s right-hand post with a long-range effort in first-half injury time and Rennes’ goal survived only eight minutes of the second half before Lyon levelled.

Kevin Theophile-Catherine was penalised for a foul on Gomis and Bastos blasted the ensuing free-kick into the top-left corner with the help of a slight deflection off Dalmat.

Lloris parried a Sylvain Marveaux effort as Rennes sought to re-assert their authority, but it was the visitors who came closest to taking all three points with a sweet Miralem Pjanic drive that whistled inches wide.

“We had a very good start but we let our level drop and that’s what cost us the goal,” Rennes midfielder Yann M’Vila told Orange Sport.

“Looking at the start of the match, it’s two points lost. Looking at the end, it’s a point won.”

Earlier, former table-toppers Saint-Etienne fell to fifth place after losing 2-1 at home to Lorient.

The hosts began strongly, with Gonzalo Bergessio seeing a goal ruled out for offside, before Kevin Gameiro cut in from the right and fired between the legs of Jeremie Janot to break the deadlock in the 22nd minute.

Christophe Galtier introduced Bakary Sako at half-time for Saint-Etienne and the substitute made a speedy impact, cantering onto a ball over the top and shooting crisply into the bottom-right corner to level the scores.

Gameiro had the final word, however, meeting Morgan Amalfitano’s cross with a firm header in the 82nd minute to send the Brittany side up to seventh and consign Saint-Etienne to their first home defeat of the campaign.

“People laughed when we were talking about staying up but we could find ourselves in danger very quickly,” said Saint-Etienne coach Galtier, whose side have now gone five games without a win.

“In the attitude and the mental weakness we saw tonight, there’s reason to be worried.”

Moussa Maazou claimed his first Bordeaux goal with an 86th-minute strike that earned Les Girondins a 1-1 draw at home to Valenciennes, who had held the lead since the 18th minute after David Ducourtioux’s opener.

Bottom club Arles-Avignon claimed their first victory of the season, at the 12th attempt, with a 3-2 win at home to fellow promoted side Caen.

“It’s good for morale and I dedicate this victory to everyone who works for the club and the supporters,” said Arles coach Faruk Hadzibegic, whose team are now eight points from safety.

Auxerre, 2-1 victors at home to Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday, were held to a 1-1 draw at Sochaux.

Brest visit Lille on Sunday, when champions Marseille travel to arch-rivals Paris Saint-Germain for the first ‘clasico’ of the season.

Liverpool owner John Henry did not consult manager Roy Hodgson before appointing Damien Comolli to a new role of director of soccer strategy.

Comolli, a friend of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, held a similar role at Tottenham for three years until 2008 and is set to work alongside Hodgson on matters such as approving player transfers and squad development.

Hodgson has worked solo for much of his career but Henry said on Friday that the veteran English coach supported the move to bring in the Frenchman from Saint-Etienne.

“I really didn’t talk that much with Roy over the week or so before we made the decision to bring Damien in,” Henry said. “I think he may have been surprised when I brought it up a couple of days before we brought in Damien. But he was fully supportive. He knows Damien.

“The model really requires people of certain personalities for it to work and Roy and Damien are two personalities who will mesh well together.”

Comolli held a similar role at Tottenham but reportedly clashed with manager Martin Jol before the Dutchman was fired. Comolli left the London club when his favored replacement, Juande Ramos, failed to live up to expectations.

Hodgson previously said he expects to retain the final decision over player transfers but that may now change.

“It’ll be a group decision,” Henry told Sky Sports News. “You build consensus. I think that’s a very good model. But they’ll each be in charge of their own areas.”

But Henry insisted that he would borrow heavily only to fund stadium construction, not make big-money player transfers.

Former owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks were reviled by fans for loading debt onto the club to fund their 2007 takeover and Henry has no plans to sacrifice his current high standing by following suit.

“We need more depth, we need to build the squad, we need stadium changes whether we build a new ground at Stanley Park or we rebuild, refurbish Anfield,” Henry said. “That’s going to take investment. If you build a stadium there’s debt involved in that. Even Arsenal had to borrow to build Emirates.

“But you cannot sustain a club in the long term by borrowing to buy players.”

Hans Backe insisted the turnaround was unimaginable.

Not quite. After stinking up Major League Soccer last year, the New York Red Bulls clinched the Eastern Conference title with a 2-0 victory Thursday night on goals by Dane Richards and Joel Lindpere.

“It’s phenomenal,” said Backe, hired as the Red Bulls coach after the 2009 debacle. “Normally, we don’t see any team in the world double its points from one year to the next. It’s just impossible.”

Playing without star forward Thierry Henry, who missed his second straight game because of an injured right knee, the Red Bulls improved to 15-9-6, up from a 5-19-6 record last year.

“The mentality was different then,” defender Carlos Mendes said. “This year, we had a winning mentality. We made up our minds. Now we’re starting from scratch.”

The 10-win increase tied the 2000 MetroStars — the team’s previous name — for the biggest one-season improvement in Major League Soccer history.

Even before adding Henry and Mexican national team captain Rafael Marquez in midseason from Barcelona, the Red Bulls signed Lindpere last winter to help revive the team as it prepared to open $200 million Red Bull Arena. Players around the newcomers also got better.

“I’m the same guy,” Richards said. “I’m just trying to improve each game.”

New York opens the playoffs against San Jose, Colorado or Seattle next week and hosts the second leg of the home-and-home, total-goals series on Nov. 4. Backe said Henry might resume training on Monday.

“We don’t want to disappoint ourselves,” forward Juan Pablo Angel said. “We’ve got to be at our best from the beginning.”

New England finished at 9-16-5 and missed the playoffs. The Revolution had won their previous two games.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys who worked hard, but it just wasn’t good enough,” midfielder Shalrie Joseph said. “It’s encouraging to look forward to the future. We’re keeping everybody, and we’re just a couple of players away from being a good team.”

Angel, the Colombian forward likely playing his final regular-season game for the Red Bulls, passed from the midfield to the speedy Richards, who scored his fifth goal of the season in the 17th minute. It was the fourth assist of the season for Angel, a former Aston Villa player who turns 35 on Sunday and said he is likely to leave the Red Bulls after four seasons.

Lindpere, a member of Estonia’s national team, scored his third goal of the season two minutes into second-half stoppage time.

Brede Hangeland’s towering header rescued a point for Fulham in an engaging 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at Craven Cottage in the Premier League on Saturday.

Gerard Houllier’s youngsters looked to be putting their season on track when Villa’s Marc Albrighton scored in the first half, but giant defender Hangeland popped up four minutes into injury time to salvage a draw.

Villa turned in an impressive performance, typified by young midfielder Barry Bannan, to give former Liverpool boss Houllier hope of climbing the table, but the loss of two points is a bitter blow.

The away team made a lively start and threatened Mark Schwarzer’s goal as early as the second minute when Stewart Downing was released by Albrighton but his shot was well blocked.

The Cottagers responded immediately with a neat move of their own that resulted in Clint Dempsey crossing for Zoltan Gera to head straight at Brad Friedel in the away goal.

The breathless start to the game continued, with Villa looking threatening on the break, and they came within inches of breaking the deadlock on 15 minutes but striker Nathan Delfouneso’s header flashed wide.

Again, Fulham hit back and carved out a clear opening for American forward Dempsey, but Friedel blocked his countryman’s finish.

Dempsey was made to pay for his wastefulness shortly before half-time when Albrighton fired Villa into the lead.

Bannan fired a precise 40-yard pass into the path of the young midfielder, who controlled instantly before finishing past Schwarzer.

The visitors picked up where they left off before the break with the impressive Bannan, who was running the show in midfield, nearly doubling the advantage with a firm effort that rebounded back off Hangeland.

The diminutive Scot nearly claimed another assist minutes later, whipping in a dangerous cross that Schwarzer bravely dived to intercept.

The Cottagers looked to have run out of ideas until deep into injury time, when Norway defender Hangeland used his height advantage to nod Danny Murphy’s inviting cross past Friedel.

Borussia Dortmund opened a four-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga on Sunday with an impressive 4-0 win at ten-man Hanover 96 as Jurgen Klopp’s young side ran riot.

With second-placed Mainz losing at Freiburg on Saturday, Dortmund are now well clear of their main rivals and have a nine-point lead over third-placed Frankfurt thanks to their win in Hanover.

Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa scored his fifth goal of the season when he put Dortmund ahead after dribbling his way into the penalty area and fired home from 17 metres after just 11 minutes.

Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios then made it 2-0 win a superb goal on 72 minutes when he completed a flowing attack which split the hosts defence and converted Lukasz Piszczek’s cross and beat two defenders to the ball.

Barrios earned a yellow card for his over-enthusiastic celebrations.

Hanover defender Karim Haggui was shown a straight red on 77 minutes for kicking Dortmund’s Jakub Blaszczykowski — known as Kuba for short — in the head in the area and Borussia were awarded a spot-kick.

Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin had his penalty saved, but Blaszczykowski had the final word when he scored his side’s fourth goal in added time.

Fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen are at home to Kaiserslautern on Sunday as they bid to close the gap behind Dortmund while second-from-bottom Stuttgart host struggling Werder Bremen.

On Saturday, Germany defender Philipp Lahm saved Bayern Munich’s blushes with a late equaliser to snatch a point from their 3-3 draw at home to bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Defending champions Bayern are still off the pace in the league as they are ninth in the table and 12 points behind top place.

Second-placed Mainz suffered a 1-0 defeat to Freiburg as striker Papiss Demba Cisse netted a late penalty.

Eintracht Frankfurt are up to third in the league after they beat Wolfsburg 3-1 with the league’s top-scorer Theofanis Gekas netting twice to take his tally in the league to 11 goals for the season.

Hoffenheim are fourth despite losing 2-1 at Hamburg, who are now up to joint sixth in the table with Nuremberg who beat Cologne 3-1.

On Friday, former Spain international great Raul scored a brace as Bundesliga strugglers Schalke 04 finally ended their jinx at the Veltins-Arena with a 3-0 home defeat of St. Pauli.

Schalke were second from bottom and moved up two places to 15th on nine points, 19 adrift of league leaders Borussia Dortmund while St. Pauli remain in 13th on 13 points.

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – Pablo Mastroeni scored a goal in the 24th minute and the Colorado Rapids beat the Columbus Crew 1-0 in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals Thursday night.

Mastroeni, the only player remaining from the club’s last playoff appearance in 2006, finished a cross from Omar Cummings. It was Mastroeni’s 16th playoff game for Colorado, the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference

Goalkeeper Matt Pickens had to make big saves in the second half. He swatted away a shot in traffic in the 77th minute and blocked Andy Iro’s header in the 84th minute.

The second leg of the aggregate-goals series is in Columbus on Saturday.

Columbus goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum made his MLS debut, replacing William Hesmer, who broke his shoulder in a 3-1 win at Philadelphia in the regular-season finale Sunday.

Leading scorer Guillermo Barros Schelotto was seldom open to shoot or receive a pass.

The Crew kept play in the Colorado end in the opening minutes. Emmanuel Ekpo’s shot from the slot sailed wide of the left post in the sixth minute.

The Rapids took over and had a chance when Cummings overshot Conor Casey with a pass on a two-on-one break in the 10th minute. Cummings missed a second chance in the 21st minute, sliding a shot well wide of the left post.

Colorado broke through with Mastroeni’s goal. Mastroeni was situated on the opposite side of the crease when Cummings’ pass was deflected behind Casey in front of the goal and right to Mastroeni, who easily beat Gruenebaum.

The Crew stayed on their heels. Cummings missed on a header in the 31st minute and Wells Thompson hit the side of the net after breaking free in the 39th minute.

All the while Colorado’s defense kept the ball away from Barros Schelotto.

The Rapids missed chances to take a bigger lead. They had a 10-1 shot advantage in the first half and the Columbus defenders blocked six shots.

Cummings misfired on a header early in the second half. Barros Schelotto was left free long enough to take a shot from 25 yards out in the 56th minute, but it landed in the stands beyond the goal.

Frustration surfaced when Columbus midfielder Brian Carroll was given a yellow card in the 57th minute for a hit on Cummings.

The two teams split in the regular season series with each team winning at home.

Chris Wondolowski scored in the 81st minute, giving the San Jose Earthquakes a 3-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls and Thierry Henry on Thursday night and a 3-2 aggregate win in the MLS Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Bobby Convey scored twice, connecting in the sixth and 77th minutes, to help San Jose rebound from a 1-0 first-leg loss in California on Saturday night. Juan Pablo Angel, in likely his last game for the Red Bulls, scored in the 78th minute.

New York, with Henry, Rafael Marquez and Angel, became perhaps the most expensive failure in MLS history.

“I can’t be disappointed with the number of chances we had,” Red Bulls coach Hans Backe said. “We could never forgive ourselves if we just played back (after Angel’s goal) and just defended. We had to just give it a go. Our mindset was to win.”

The Earthquakes will face the Columbus-Colorado winner in the conference final.

“Obviously, we need a couple of balls to bounce our way,” Wondolowski said. “But I’m liking our chances.”

On the series winner, Convey floated in a long pass toward the goal corner, Wondolowki broke in and headed the ball into the short side past goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul.

“Bobby and I read each other real well,” Wondolowski said. “I started shifting inside and Bobby lifted his head and saw me. I saw Bouna was coming out, so I just put it on the frame.”

The match ended the first season at $200 million Red Bull Arena. While New York improved from a last-place 5-19-6 record last year to an Eastern Conference-best 15-9-6 this season under new coach Hans Backe, the Red Bulls were hoping for more than a mere playoff appearance after the midsummer additions of Henry, the former French national team star, and Marquez, the Mexican national team captain.

Henry is second only to David Beckham on the MLS salary list at $5.6 million this year and Marquez is next at $5.54 million. The 35-year-old Angel, who says he doesn’t expect to be back with the Red Bulls after four seasons in New York, is at $1.92 million.

“Everyone wanted New York to win this,” Convey said. “We came in under the radar. But we’re hard to beat.”

Germany – American midfielder Jermaine Jones returned from an ankle injury that caused him to miss two games and started as Schalke beat St. Pauli 3-0 Friday night to win its first home game in the Bundesliga this season.

Jones, who made his U.S. national team debut last month, hurt two right ankle ligaments in the Oct. 23 match against FSV Frankfurt. He missed a 1-0 Bundesliga loss to Bayer Leverkusen and a 0-0 tie at Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Champions League.

Jones started Friday and played until the 81st minute for 15th-place Schalke (2-6-3), which got two goals from Raul Gonzalez and one from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. St. Pauli is 13th at 4-6-1.