Gabriel Jesus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan stole the headlines as Manchester City and Manchester United made up important ground in the race for Champions League qualification with wins Sunday. Jesus, 19, marked his full home debut for City by scoring twice, including a 92nd-minute winner, to give Pep Guardiola's side a 2-1 win over Swansea City that lifted them up to third. Mkhitaryan scored one goal and made another in a 3-0 victory at relegation-threatened champion Leicester City that took United to within two points of the top four. Jose Mourinho's side remains sixth, a position it has occupied since November, but Arsenal, beaten 3-1 by leader Chelsea Saturday, and Liverpool, stunned 2-0 by Hull City, are now within reach. City is 10 points behind Chelsea and a point below second-place Tottenham Hotspur, with Arsenal two points back, one point above fifth-place Liverpool and two above United. After three successive league draws, Mourinho changed tack for the trip to the King Power Stadium, bringing in Juan Mata for Michael Carrick and ditching his usual 4-1-4-1 system for a 4-4-2. But United, who was missing Wayne Rooney through illness, looked off its game until a switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation mid-way through the first half. The move brought Mkhitaryan into the No. 10 role and he put United ahead in the 42nd minute, beating Robert Huth to Chris Smalling's header on halfway and sprinting clear to score. Less than 90 seconds later it was 2-0 as Zlatan Ibrahimovic expertly steered Antonio Valencia's cross past Kasper Schmeichel for his 20th goal of the season. Mkhitaryan turned creator as United put the game to bed five minutes into the second half, facilitating a one-two with Mata that freed the Spaniard to beat Schmeichel at his near post. It was Leicester's 13th defeat of the campaign and kept Claudio Ranieri's men a slender point above the relegation zone. Jesus needed just 11 minutes to crown his full home debut for Manchester City with a goal as he put Guardiola's men in front against Paul Clement's improving Swansea. Martin Olsson prevented Raheem Sterling from applying the finishing touch to David Silva's low cross, but Jesus pounced to volley the loose ball past Lukasz Fabianski. City completely dominated the first half, but took its foot off the pedal after the break and were punished when Gylfi Sigurdsson swept in a low, left-foot equalizer in the 81st minute. But Jesus had the final say, tucking the ball into the net at the second attempt after his header from Silva's right-wing cross had been parried by Fabianski. Swansea remains a point above the relegation zone, below Leicester and Middlesbrough on goal difference, and Clement felt his side had been unfortunate not to come away with a point.
Parolo hits four for Lazio Marco Parolo scored four goals in Lazio's emphatic 6-2 win at Pescara in Serie A on Sunday while AC Milan's season continued to nosedive as it was booed off the San Siro pitch after a 1-0 home defeat against Sampdoria. Lazio's win took it into fourth place with 43 points, four behind third-placed AS Roma and one ahead of Inter Milan which was away to leader Juventus in the late game. Two Parolo headers in the first 15 minutes gave Lazio a flying start at basement side Pescara but the Dolphins hit back through Ahmad Benali and Gaston Brugman before halftime. In between, Gianluca Caprari saw a weak penalty saved by Federico Marchetti, Pescara's fifth miss from the spot in seven attempts this season. Parolo put Lazio back in front with another header straight after the re-start and completed the scoring with a volley, while Keita Balde and Ciro Immobile were also on target in between. Sampdoria forward Luis Muriel sent Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 70th minute to hand Milan its third successive league defeat after Gabriel Paletta fouled Fabio Quagliarella. Milan, which is now in eighth place and struggling to qualify for Europe, saw its wretched day completed when Jose Sosa was booked twice in five minutes and sent off. Andrea Belotti volleyed ninth-placed Torino in front at Empoli with his 15th goal of the season but the home side leveled in extraordinary fashion when Arlind Ajeti's back pass got stuck in a puddle, allowing Manuel Pucciarelli to pounce on the loose ball, round Joe Hart and score. Iago Falque became the third Torino player to miss a penalty this season when his effort was saved by Lukasz Skorupski in the 55th minute. Alejandro Gomez scored two early goals, the second a superb curling effort, to give Atalanta a 2-0 win over Cagliari which kept them sixth while Sassuolo won 1-0 at Genoa and Chievo and Udinese played out a goalless draw. — Agencies
