London  - Manchester United returned to the top of the English Premier League table thanks to a 2-0 win Wednesday over Portsmouth.

Goals from Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick secured victory for the champions at Old Trafford and took them back above Liverpool. With six games to go to Liverpool's five, United are three points clear.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was happy with the result but not with a couple of challenges that left Gary Neville and John O'Shea with injuries.

Rome  - Long-range drives from Mauro Zarate and Aleksandar Kolarov secured the Italian Cup final for Lazio in a 2-1 win Wednesday over 10-man Juventus for an aggregate 4-2 score.

Zarate's firing skills froze the home crowd at Turin's Stadio Olimpico and stunned Gianluigi Buffon on 38 minutes, when the international goalkeeper tried a desperate dive on his left only to watch the drooping shot find the net behind him.

Madrid  - Majestic Barcelona turned on the style once again, brushing aside third-placed Sevilla 4-0 Wednesday in a euphoric Camp Nou.

The latest exhibition leaves Josep Guardiola's sumptuous side six points ahead of second-place Real Madrid, who, in contrast, struggled Tuesday to beat lowly Getafe 3-2.

Barca now have 81 points from 32 games, while Real have 75.

Barca have won their last seven league matches without conceding a goal - and without their obvious superiority ever having been in doubt.

Barcelona - Clay-tough Spaniard Tommy Robredo ended the Barcelona Open dream of Gaston Gaudio as he hammered the former French Open champion out of the second round on Wednesday.

Sixth seed Robredo, who trailed 4-3 in a series with the last match played in 2006, piled on a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win after being made to work in the opening set.

Gaudio, 30 yearf age and ranked 966th, was on a high after winning his first match since 2007 and now pointing at a wild card request for Roland Garros after claiming the Grand Slam there in 2004.

Madrid  - Spanish football giants Real Madrid announced on Wednesday that Arjen Robben will be out of action for between two and three weeks.

According to the club's website, the Dutch winger tore the triceps muscle in his right leg in Tuesday's dramatic 3-2 home win over Getafe.

Robben will miss Sunday's crucial game away to third-placed Sevilla as well as the home game against leaders Barcelona on May 2.

The injury-prone Robben came off the bench at half-time in the Getafe match but limped off after just 19 minutes.

München  - Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are set to hire Brazilian right back Rafinha from Schalke 04, the Sport Bild weekly said in the run-up to the teams' league match.

Citing Schalke management sources, Sport Bild reported in its latest issue published on Wednesday that Rafinha has agreed terms to terms with Munich.

However, a transfer fee is yet to be determined as Rafinha has a contract at Schalke until 2011. It is also unclear whether Schalke will let him go.