London  - Manchester United came from behind Wednesday to beat Newcastle United 2-1 and open up a seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, with a game in hand.

"It's down to trusting your players and having the ability to win matches, and we had to do that against Newcastle," United manager Sir ALex Ferguson told MUTV.

"Being 1-0 down away from home isn't easy, but we came back to win thanks to a very gritty performance."

Madrid  - Barcelona edged past Mallorca late Wednesday in a dull Spanish King's Cup semi-final second leg and will meet euphoric Athletic Bilbao in the final.

Out-of-form Barca drew 1-1 at Mallorca and go into the final on a 3-1 aggregate, having beaten the islanders 2-0 in the first leg four weeks ago in the Camp Nou.

Earlier Wednesday, Bilbao powered their way into their first final since 1985 by thrashing dull Sevilla 3-0, to go through on a 4-2 aggregate.

Hamburg  - cruised to a 5-2 win over VfL Wolfsburg to book their place in the semi-finals of the German Cup Wednesday while SV Hamburg had a few nervy moments before prevailing 2-1 against SV Wehen.

Five-time winners Bremen raced into an early two-goal lead thanks goals in the first six minutes from midfielders Diego and Mesut Ozil and although Wolfsburg managed to restore parity, a brace from Claudio Pizarro ensured a comfortable win for Thomas Schaaf's side.

Madrid  - Athletic Bilbao powered their way into the Spanish King'

Rome - Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho was expected to receive a disciplinary sanction Wednesday for his verbal attacks against Roma, Juventus and the media.

Mourinho heated up a dispute that began late Sunday after a controversial spot kick helped the Serie A leaders salvage a 3-3 home draw with Roma.

Vienna  - Austria Wednesday appointed Didi Constantini to succeed Karel Brueckner as coach of the national side.

Constantini, 53, will be assisted by Manfred Zsak who moves from the under-21 team. Former international Andreas Herzog will take over the under-21s, the Austrian football federation said.

Constantini, a much-travelled player and coach in Austria, had twice briefly been in charge of the national team in interim capacities in the early 1990s.

He will be officially presented on Thursday.