LONDON: Luiz Felipe Scolari launched a scathing attack on referee Mike Dean and his officials after Chelsea's 2-1 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday.

MANCHESTER, England: Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Manchester United's steely will-to-win could make the difference in the title race after his side's 1-0 victory at Manchester City.

ROME: AC Milan crashed 3-1 at Palermo on Sunday to hand city rivals and reigning champions Inter Milan a six-point lead at the top of the Serie A table following their 2-1 success over Napoli.

BARCELONA: Injury-hit Villarreal underlined their Spanish league title credentials with a 2-1 victory over rock-bottom Recreativo Huelva on Sunday to cut the gap on leaders Barcelona to four points.

Volleyball legend Lang Ping's decision to coach Turkish league giant Telekom Ankara less than a week after quitting the US national team has been met with surprise and support from Chinese fans, many of whom were hoping she would relent and come back to coach in the land of her birth.

DONGGUAN, China: Now approaching the twilight of his career, Zhang Lianwei may never get to hoist the World Cup trophy but he is already laying the foundation for future aspirants to achieve success for China.

The skill of American surgeon Tom Clanton will have a bearing on whether superstar hurdler Liu Xiang gets another shot at competing for Olympic gold in four years' time.

Alpine skiing

LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 112-99 on Sunday to win their seventh successive game and improve to a NBA-leading 14-1 record.

MINNEAPOLIS: Seconds after the Bears were stopped four times at the 1, Bernard Berrian pulled in a 99-yard touchdown pass from Gus Frerotte that sent the Minnesota Vikings to a 34-14 victory and sole possession of the division lead Sunday night.

NEW YORK: Stephen Weiss and Gregory Campbell scored 12 seconds apart in the second period and Craig Anderson made 37 saves for his sixth NHL shutout in the Florida Panthers' 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday.

LAKE LOUISE, Canada: Austrian legend Hermann Maier skied through the pain of a bad back Sunday to snap an almost three-year win drought by capturing the first super-G of the World Cup season.