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Luis Suarez

LONDON. — Luis Suarez inspired Spanish La Liga soccer leaders Barcelona to a 2-1 home triumph over Real Madrid, while Manchester United won at Liverpool in one of the English Premier League’s most iconic games and Bayern Munich finally lost at home.

In Spain, Barcelona stretched their lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga to four points after a superb finish from Suarez sealed a 2-1 home victory.

Jeremy Mathieu had given the hosts the lead only for Cristiano Ronaldo to equalise.

Sevilla piled the misery on Villarreal with a Coke strike setting them on the way to a 2-0 victory in La Liga following their midweek Europa League triumph over the same opponents.

In England, Chelsea are six clear with a game in hand at the top after a 3-2 win at Hull City but the main drama was in the fight for the fourth Champions League qualifying place with Juan Mata scoring twice in Manchester United’s 2-1 win at Liverpool.

Steven Gerrard was sent off for stamping on Ander Herrera 38 seconds after coming on as a half-time substitute as United moved five points clear of their fifth-placed rivals.

Arsenal are a point ahead in third after a 2-1 victory at Newcastle United with second-placed Manchester City a further point in front following a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion which featured another referee sending off the wrong player.

In Germany, Borussia Moenchengladbach shocked Bayern Munich with a 2-0 victory but the champions are 10 points clear at the top of the table despite their first home loss in almost a year.

Brazilian Raffael struck twice for Gladbach, who stayed firmly in third place and on course for the Champions League, with second-placed VfL Wolfsburg seven points ahead after stumbling to a 1-1 draw at Mainz 05.

Bayer Leverkusen beat Schalke 04 1-0 courtesy of Karim Bellarabi’s winner in their battle for a Champions League playoff spot, opening up a six-point gap to the fifth-placed Ruhr Valley club.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben has been ruled out for several weeks with a stomach muscle tear after his comeback lasted a mere 24 minutes against Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.

Robben went off after a rough challenge from Gladbach’s Tony Jantschke with Thomas Mueller replacing him.

The Dutchman could now be a doubt for Bayern’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Porto on April 15 with the club saying he would be out ‘‘for several weeks.”

“His injury is almost as bad as the defeat,” said Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

The 31-year-old Netherlands forward had only returned to training this week after being sidelined for a week with a back injury sustained against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on March 12.

The winger, who missed last week’s win over Werder Bremen and was a surprise inclusion in the starting line-up on Sunday, is the league’s second-top scorer with 17 goals this term.

Robben has also set up seven goals for Bayern, who are 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

In Italy, Juventus triumphed 1-0 at home to mid-table Genoa after striker Carlos Tevez scored a magnificent first-half goal and later missed a penalty.

Juve’s third straight victory by the same scoreline meant they maintained a 14-point lead over AS Roma, who won 1-0 at Cesena.

Jeremy Menez scored twice to help beleaguered AC Milan beat Cagliari 3-1 in front of a sparse San Siro crowd as fans responded to a request to boycott the match in protest at the club’s leadership.

In France, Paris St Germain went top of Ligue 1 with a 3-1 home win over Lorient on Friday and stayed there after Olympique Lyonnais, a point behind, slumped to a shock 2-1 home defeat against 10-man Nice on Saturday. — Reuters.