Milestone man takes City to top of table

LONDON, April 30

Manchester City claimed top spot in the Premier League for the first time since February as Erling Haaland reached another set of a milestones in a 2-1 victory at Fulham today. It took Haaland only three minutes to score his record-equalling 34th Premier League goal of an extraordinary debut season in England, the Norwegian tucking away a penalty.

It moved him level on the Premier League single season scoring record of Alan Shearer and Andy Cole. The Norwegian also became the first player in England’s top flight to score 50 goals in all competitions in a season since Tom Waring did so for Aston Villa in 1931.

City were pegged back in the 15th minute when Carlos Vinicius rifled a shot past Ederson but they responded to the setback to carve out a succession of chances.

Jack Grealish was denied by the crossbar before Argentine forward Julian Alvarez produced a moment of magic to beat Bernd Leno with a right-foot shot from outside the area. City were unable to give themselves a cushion after the break despite several chances and suffered some anxious moments but they held on for an eighth successive league win. They are now top with 76 points to Arsenal’s 75 and also have one extra game to play.

Diogo Jota scored a stoppage-time winner as Liverpool clinched a barely-believable 4-3 Premier League victory over Tottenham Hotspur to bolster their hopes of qualifying for Europe.

Benzema nets hat-trick

Barcelona: Karim Benzema scored a first-half hat-trick to lead Real Madrid to a 4-2 win over Almeria in a Spanish league game that included an injury scare for forward Vinicius Junior.

Barcelona maintained their 11-point lead after beating nine-man Real Betis 4-0.

Bayern reclaim top spot

Munich: Bayern Munich struck twice in the second half to beat bottom club Hertha Berlin 2-0 and retake the lead in the Bundesliga with four matches remaining. Bayern lead Dortmund by one point.

In Italy, leaders Napoli were held to a 1-1 home draw after a late equaliser by Salernitana, denying Luciano Spalletti’s side early title celebrations at their home ground. — Agencies