Real Madrid increased its lead at the top of the Spanish league by beating Sevilla 3-1 Sunday. Gabriel Heinze, Raul Gonzalez and Gonzalo Higuain scored to help Madrid snap a two-game home losing streak. Frederic Kanoute scored for Sevilla. Madrid leads the league with 65 points, followed by Villarreal with 59 and FC Barcelona with 58. Barcelona surrendered a two-goal lead to lose at Real Betis 3-2 Saturday, and Villarreal moved ahead of the Catalans after routing Atletico Madrid 3-0. Racing Santander increased its chances of playing in the Champions League next season by beating Espanyol 3-0. Oscar Serrano and Pedro Munitis scored first-half goals and substitute Ivan Bolado added the other to put Santander level with fourth-place Atletico Madrid, both with 50 points. Only the top four teams in the Spanish league qualify. Also Sunday, it was: Valencia 0, Mallorca 3; Almeria 2, Levante 1; Valladolid 2, Zaragoza 1; Getafe 0, Osasuna 2; Recreativo Huelva 1, Athletic Bilbao 1; and Deportivo La Coruna 3, Murcia 1.Liverpool scores win Chelsea kept its Premier League title hopes alive with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Sunday. Ricardo Carvalho's well-placed header inside the opening six minutes at Stamford Bridge proved sufficient for Avram Grant's side to cut the gap to five points but it rode its luck as Boro's Brazilian striker Afonso Alves twice hit the woodwork. Liverpool later completed a quartet of wins for the top four with a 1-0 defeat of Everton at Anfield. Middlesbrough dropped to 13th place, below Newcastle United which eased its relegation fears with a 4-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur after trailing 1-0. Stuttgart, Bundesliga draw In Berlin, VfB Stuttgart failed to take advantage of a series of mishaps above it when it was held to a goalless draw away to Hanover 96 on Sunday. The draw kept Stuttgart sixth on 42 points, three behind Schalke in the third and final Champions League spot. With eight games left, Bayern Munich leads the standings with 54 points following a 1-1 derby draw at Nuremberg on Saturday. Hamburg SV, held 1-1 by Arminia Bielefeld, is second on 47. Schalke is third on 45, one ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen. In Sunday's other game Energie Cottbus moved out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win at home to Hertha Berlin, Albania's Ervin Skeller getting both goals with a free kick and a penalty. __
