Stuttering Real Madrid have Barcelona breathing down their necks after their La Liga lead was cut to just four points following a 0-0 draw with third-placed Valencia on Sunday.

Real started well with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting the post early on, but they were unable to maintain the impetus and Valencia also hit the woodwork in both halves through Ricardo Costa and Tino Costa.

Mario Balotelli's Manchester City future was in the balance after manager Roberto Mancini admitted his patience with the striker was wearing thin.

Balotelli was sent off for the third time this season in the 89th minute of City's 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday that left them eight points behind leaders Manchester United with six games left and hopes of a first English title in 44 years all but extinguished.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to Paul Scholes after his team closed in on a 20th English title.

Scholes, 37, scored a third goal since coming out of retirement in January as United secured an 11th win in 12 Premier League matches with a 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers at Old Trafford.

The Boston Celtics rebounded from one of their worst defeats of the season to beat the Indiana Pacers 86-72 on Saturday at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena.

Forward Paul Pierce scored 24 points and Ray Allen came off the bench for the second game in a row to finish with 19 points for the Celtics who snapped a two-game skid with their sixth victory in their last eight games.

Roberto Di Matteo hopes his Chelsea side will have shaken off their Champions League hangover when they face west London rivals Fulham on Monday.

The Blues manager admitted his side were not at their best as they scraped their way to a controversial 2-1 win over Wigan on Saturday, three days after a victory over Benfica that set up a Champions League semi-final with Barcelona.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has insisted there is no sense of paranoia at Anfield despite taking issue with a number of decisions given against his team in recent weeks.

The Reds' Premier League problems continued with a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday, which was the 11th time in 16 home matches they have failed to win this season.

Lionel Messi became the first player in almost 40 years to score 60 goals in a single European top-flight season after a brace helped Barcelona come from behind to beat 10-man Zaragoza 4-1 on Saturday.

Messi's 23 goals from the last 12 games has helped him arrive at the landmark 60 figure, the first time since Gerd Muller scored 67 goals in the 1972-73 season for Bayern Munich.

Before Tiger Woods thinks about making a weekend move at the Masters, he'll have to get his long game, his putter and, yes, even his temper back in check.

Woods had an early tee time Saturday at Augusta National, trying to make up an eight-shot deficit on leaders Fred Couples and Jason Dufner after a second round filled with bad shot-making and missed putts that had him tossing and kicking his clubs by the end.

Celtic won the Scottish Premier League title for the first time in four years with a 6-0 thrashing of Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday.

Neil Lennon's side needed one point from the match to end their long wait to be crowned Scottish champions and they did it in style, as Gary Hooper and Charlie Mulgrew both netted twice, with Glenn Loovens and Joe Ledley also on the scoresheet.

Laura Trott added to Great Britain's impressive gold medal haul at the track cycling world championships by winning her maiden title in the women's omnium event Saturday.

Trott finished on 28 points in the grueling six-discipline event to beat Annette Edmondson of Australia (31) and American Sarah Hammer (36), who took the bronze.