Manchester City was dumped out of the League Cup on penalties by third-tier club Brighton on Wednesday in the Premier League team's first match since being bought by a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family. Chelsea had no such trouble at Portsmouth, cruising into the fourth round with a 4-0 win, while Tottenham began its title defense with a 2-1 victory at Newcastle in a meeting of the Premier League's crisis clubs. Championship side Queens Park Rangers ousted five-time champion Aston Villa 1-0 . Everton went down 1-0 at Blackburn and Wigan won 4-1 at Ipswich. Manchester City was humbled 24 hours after the Abu Dhabi United group's buyout was completed. Brighton goalkeeper Michel Kuipers saved Michael Ball's penalty as his League One team took the shootout 5-3 after it was 2-2 following extra time in the only second-round match. Brighton will now play Derby. City midfielder Gelson Fernandes turned Jo's pass home in the 64th, but Glenn Murray equalized in the 89th. Brighton went ahead five minutes into extra time through Joe Anyinsah, only for Stephen Ireland to give City a lifeline in the 108th by forcing a shootout. For Chelsea, Frank Lampard (2), Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou scored. Inter takes command Substitute Julio Ricardo Cruz scored to give Inter Milan a hard-fought 1-0 win over newly promoted Lecce on Wednesday and sole possession of the Serie A lead. Juventus was held to a 1-1 draw by Catania and AC Milan beat Reggina 2-1 for its second straight win after opening with two losses. Inter leads with 10 points, followed by Lazio and Atalanta with nine each. Napoli, which beat Palermo 2-1, and Juventus are next with eight points apiece. Diego Milito joined Lazio's Mauro Zarate atop the league scoring chart with his third and fourth goals in Genoa's 3-1 win over 10-man AS Roma. Stefano Mauri, Goran Pandev and Sebastiano Siviglia scored to give Lazio a 3-0 win over Fiorentina, and Sergio Floccari's goal led Atalanta to a 1-0 victory over last-place Cagliari. Also, it was: Bologna 0, Udinese 3; Chievo Verona 1, Torino 1; and Siena 0, Sampdoria 0. Villarreal on top Rafael van der Vaart scored three goals to help defending champion Real Madrid trounce last-place Sporting Gijon 7-1 in the Spanish league on Wednesday. Raul Gonzalez added two more, while there was also a goal apiece for Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben in Madrid's third straight victory. Earlier, Villarreal moved to the top of the standings with a 2-0 win over Racing Santander. Also, Samuel Eto'o netted twice and Eidur Gudjohnsen scored a late goal to give Barcelona a 3-2 win over Real Betis. In other games, Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at Getafe, Sevilla beat Espanyol 2-0 and Osasuna drew 0-0 with Deportivo La Coruna. Villarreal leads with 10 points, one more than Atletico and Madrid. Sevilla has eight, while Barcelona, Valencia, Almeria and Espanyol all have seven.
