Madrid - Villarreal moved up to fifth in the Spanish Liga on Thursday with a 2-1 home win over lowly Recreativo Huelva.

Their first win in five games leaves the Yellow Submarine with 52 points from 32 games, three points behind fourth-place Valencia and two ahead of sixth-place Malaga.

Javier Camunas gave Huelva the lead after just two minutes, but Joseba Llorente made it 1-1 for Villarreal with a powerful drive four minutes before half-time.

The winning goal, in the 68th minute, was controversial, to say the least.

London - Arsenal will be without forward Robin van Persie and full-back Gael Clichy for next week's Champions League semi-final first leg against Manchester United, manager Arsene Wenger confirmed Thursday.

Van Persie had a groin injury while Clichy has a back problem.

Wenger confirmed that goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, defender Johan Djourou and striker Emmanuel Adebayor could all return for Sunday's Premier League game against Middlesbrough.

"We will rotate a little bit again, but we have no major injuries from Liverpool," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online.

Rome - A 1-0 win Thursday over Sampdoria was not enough for Inter Milan to secure the final of the Italian Cup as the Genoa guests prevailed through a 3-1 aggregate score.

Samp pulled no punches despite the wide lead from the first leg and relied on playmaker Antonio Cassano to finalize their solid midfield play with assists for Giampaolo Pazzini, who scored a brace in the first leg in Genoa.

Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic tried a long-range free kick on nine minutes, one minute before Paolo Sammarco had his shot saved off a feed from Cassano.

Madrid - Villarreal moved up to fifth in the Spanish Liga on Thursday with a 2-1 home win over lowly Recreativo Huelva.

Their first win in five games leaves the "Yellow Submarine" with 52 points from 32 games, three points less than fourth-placed Valencia but with two more than sixth-placed Malaga.

Atletico Madrid will join Villarreal on 52 points if they manage to win in Santander later on Thursday, in the match which closes the 32th round of games.

London  - Manchester United returned to the top of the English Premier League table thanks to a 2-0 win Wednesday over Portsmouth.

Goals from Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick secured victory for the champions at Old Trafford and took them back above Liverpool. With six games to go to Liverpool's five, United are three points clear.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was happy with the result but not with a couple of challenges that left Gary Neville and John O'Shea with injuries.

Rome  - Long-range drives from Mauro Zarate and Aleksandar Kolarov secured the Italian Cup final for Lazio in a 2-1 win Wednesday over 10-man Juventus for an aggregate 4-2 score.

Zarate's firing skills froze the home crowd at Turin's Stadio Olimpico and stunned Gianluigi Buffon on 38 minutes, when the international goalkeeper tried a desperate dive on his left only to watch the drooping shot find the net behind him.