updated 4:23 p.m. ET Feb. 26, 2012
LONDON - Liverpool won its first trophy in six years Sunday, beating second-tier Cardiff 3-2 in a penalty shootout to capture the League Cup while Manchester United kept the Premier League title race bubbling with a last-gasp victory.
It was a bittersweet day for Liverpool captain Steve Gerrard, who collected the club's eighth League Cup title after cousin Anthony Gerrard missed the decisive penalty kick for Cardiff at Wembley Stadium.
"It's not a nice way to win a cup but we'll take it," said Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, who delivered a trophy for the club's American owners 13 months after returning to one of England's most successful teams.
The score was 1-1 after 90 minutes and 2-2 after extra time, with Cardiff defender Ben Turner taking the match to penalty kicks with a goal in the 118th minute.
Ryan Giggs marked his 900th game for United by scoring a stoppage-time winner in a 2-1 win at Norwich. United is two points behind Manchester City.
Third-place Tottenham's title hopes were damaged after losing 5-2 to Arsenal. Tottenham is eight points behind United and seven ahead of Arsenal, which climbed back above Chelsea to fourth place by virtue of ihaving more goals.
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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Cristiano Ronaldo scored a superb back-heeled goal to give Real Madrid a 1-0 win at Rayo Vallecano, keeping the team on track for its first Spanish league title in four years.
Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball in the area and flicked it through a pack of defenders with his back to the net in the 54th minute to take his league-leading tally to 29 goals.
Madrid held on to win its ninth straight away game in a league that it is dominating. The victory left Jose Mourinho's team 13 points ahead of defending champion Barcelona, which played later in the day at Atletico Madrid.
Jesus Navas set up one goal and scored another to give Sevilla a 2-1 win at third-place Valencia, which has won just once in the last eight rounds. Nilmar scored his first goal in five months to give Villarreal a 2-2 home draw with Athletic Bilbao.
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MILAN (AP) ? German Denis scored a hat trick as struggling Atalanta stunned nine-man Roma 4-1 in the Serie A.
Guido Marilungo put Atalanta ahead in the 10th minute before Denis scored his first goal in the 19th. Roma gave itself hope when Fabio Borini struck shortly afterward.
Denis scored again two minutes after halftime and Pablo Osvaldo was ejected for an off-the-ball incident. Denis' third goal came in the 66th minute, raising his season total to 15. Visiting Roma had another man sent off with eight minutes left.
Roma remains in fifth place. Atalanta is still seven points off the relegation zone after Lecce beat 10-man Cagliari 2-1. Siena also won, routing Palermo 4-1.
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BERLIN (AP) ? Franck Ribery scored twice for Bayern Munich to beat Schalke 2-0 in the Bundesliga and stem talk of a crisis engulfing the club.
Ribery put the home ahead in the 36th minute. In the 55th minute, he combined with Thomas Mueller before firing a deflected shot beyond the helpless Timo Hildebrand.
Bayern started the day in third place and Schalke would have overtaken the Bavarians with a win. Before kickoff, Bayern President Franz Beckenbauer declared it "the most important game of the whole season."
Bayern remains four points behind leader Borussia Dortmund, which stretched its unbeaten run to 17 games with a 3-1 home win over Hannover.
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AMSTERDAM (AP) ? American forward Jozy Altidore scored in the 26th and 58th minutes of AZ Alkmaar's 3-3 draw against Heerenveen.
Following his second two-goal game in February, Altidore has nine league goals this season and 13 overall.
AZ Alkmaar is second with 46 points ? two behind PSV Eindhoven, which beat Feyenoord 3-2 thanks to Zakaria Labyad's winning goal in the 85th minute. Guyon Fernandez's two goals inside seven minutes gave Feyenoord hope before Labyad's late winner.
Luuk de Jong's 44th-minute goal secured a 1-0 win for FC Twente against FC Utrecht. Twente, which has a game in hand, is third with 45 points.
Siem de Jong scored twice to lead Ajax over Excelsior Rotterdam 4-1.
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PARIS (AP) ? Marseille's 16-game unbeaten run came to an end when it lost 1-0 at Brest and fell behind in the race for a Champions League place.
Paul Baysse headed home a corner kick in the 17th minute, and Brest held on in injury time as Andre Ayew and Rod Fanni came close to scoring.
Toulouse moved to sixth place after beating last-place Sochaux 2-0. Aymen Abdennour and Emmanuel Riviere scored a goal in each half.
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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) ? Rangers beat Inverness 4-1 to strengthen their hold on second place in the Scottish Premier league.
Steven Davis, Sone Aluko and Andy Little scored first-half goals and Lee McCulloch added another in the second half for Rangers. The team was docked 10 points last week after going into a form of bankruptcy protection.
The victory allowed the defending champions to open a six-point cushion over third-place Motherwell, which lost 1-0 to Celtic on Saturday. First-place Celtic has a 20-point lead.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsAFP - Getty ImagesLiverpool ends its trophy drought
??Liverpool beats second-tier Cardiff 3-2 in a penalty shootout to capture the League Cup while Manchester United keeps the Premier League race bubbling with a last-gasp victory.
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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46533014/ns/sports-soccer/
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