Federico Macheda saved Manchester United for the second week running on Saturday when the 17-year-old Italian got the decider in a 2-1 win at Sunderland with his first touch seconds after coming on. Macheda, whose brilliant debut goal in stoppage time secured a 3-2 win over Aston Villa last weekend, made another enormous contribution to the Premier League title race in the 76th minute after Kenwyne Jones had cancelled out Paul Scholes's opener. Liverpool had earlier piled on the pressure with a 4-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers, helped by two from Fernando Torres, and Chelsea also led Bolton Wanderers 4-0 but ended up hanging on for a 4-3 win. United, who has a game in hand on the chasing pack, remains top on 71 points with Liverpool second on 70. Chelsea is third on 67 with Arsenal fourth on 61 after it came from behind to win 4-1 at Wigan Athletic. Newcastle United secured their first point under temporary boss Alan Shearer with a 1-1 draw at Stoke City while Middlesbrough claimed only their second win in 20 league games by beating Hull City 3-1. Both north-east clubs remain in the relegation zone, however, with six games remaining. Barcelona perches atop Andres Iniesta scored one and created the other as Barcelona beat Recreativo Huelva 2-0 to protect its lead in the Spanish league on Saturday. Iniesta gave the host the lead in the first minute, after Thierry Henry's centering pass skipped past four Recreativo players – and goalkeeper Asier Riesgo – for the midfielder to slide into the empty goal. Iniesta then created an own-goal in the 68th to secure the victory, moving in from the left and weaving around Alain Nef before his centering pass bounced off Nasief Morris and rolled past Riesgo. Lionel Messi, who scored twice in a 4-0 Champions League rout of Bayern Munich on Wednesday, failed to give the Catalans a third in the 82nd after sending his penalty straight at Riesgo. It was Barcelona's sixth straight league win, and second-place Real Madrid has 66 points to Barcelona's 75. In a late game, Malaga gained ground on fourth-place Villarreal thanks to a 2-0 victory. Genoa stuns Juventus Inter Milan squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Palermo on Saturday but still extended its Serie A lead over Juventus, which lost 3-2 to Genoa. Mario Balotelli and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored for Inter in the first half before Palermo fought back after the break, with Edinson Cavani and Davide Succi scoring within three minutes of each other to salvage a point. Inter now has 73 points, Juventus 63, AC Milan is third with 61 and Genoa is fourth with 57 points. Juventus failed to take advantage of Inter's slip-up, as former Juve striker Raffaele Palladino scored the winning goal for Genoa in the 88th minute. In a back-and-forth match, Thiago Motta had given Genoa the lead twice – first with a low shot past Gianluigi Buffon in the 29th. After Alessandro Del Piero equalized from the penalty spot in the 45th, Motta made it 2-1 by heading in a corner in first-half injury time. Juventus then looked to have salvaged a point when Vincenzo Iaquinta equalized again in the 84th, but Palladino's late goal lifted Genoa into fourth place and the final Champions League spot. AS Roma saw its hopes of a Champions League place all but disappear after a 4-2 loss in the Rome derby to Lazio. Also Saturday, it was; Bologna 1, Siena 4; Chievo Verona 0, AC Milan 1; Lecce 1, Sampdoria 3; Napoli 0, Atalanta 0; Torino 2, Catania 1. Bayern in second place VfL Wolfsburg needed a late goal from midfielder Sascha Riether to win 2-1 at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday and protect a three-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with seven games left. Bayern Munich, desperately needing to bounce back from their midweek 4-0 defeat by Barcelona in the Champions League, crushed Eintracht Frankfurt by the same score to move into second place on 51 points.
