Arshavin scores 4, but Reds manage draw
Liverpool salvaged a 4-4 draw with Arsenal deep in injury time but Andrei Arshavins four goals dealt the Reds English Premier League title challenge a huge setback on Tuesday.
The draw, which had seemed implausible when Arshavin scored in the 90th minute before Yossi Benayoun struck at the other end, took Liverpool back to the top of the league on goal difference.
Rafa Benitezs side, however, might not be there long as second-place Manchester United plays the first of its two games in hand on Wednesday against Portsmouth.
United are in the driving seat and we will see what happens tomorrow, Benitez said. If they win it will be more difficult but they have to win.
Fernando Torres and Benayoun each scored twice as Liverpool played out a second straight 4-4 draw, duplicating last weeks match at Chelsea in the Champions League quarterfinals. That result still led to Liverpools exit.
Tuesdays leaves them needing to win the five remaining matches while United loses twice in its seven.
It is really disappointing because we conceded four goals and normally we were not conceding these kind of goals, Benitez said. We made massive mistakes. It is difficult to explain because it was different players in different stages of the game.
Nine points behind Liverpool, Arsenal is in fourth place - the final Champions League qualifying spot. With much attention focused on next weeks European semifinal against Manchester United, manager Arsene Wenger fielded a depleted side at Anfield.
Theo Walcott, who had scored in his last three games, was dropped in five changes from Saturdays FA Cup semifinal loss to Chelsea.
—
MADRID (AP) - Gonzalo Higuains second goal of the night in injury time helped Real Madrid rally for a 3-2 win over Getafe in the Spanish league.
Higuain ran into the area three minutes into injury time and sent a rising left-footed shot in for the winner, which came during a closing eight minutes that included four goals, a red card for Madrid defender Pepe and a Getafe penalty miss.
Madrid improved to 75 points, three behind league leader Barcelona, which can reclaim its six-point lead with a victory over Sevilla on Wednesday.
Robert Soldado headed Getafe into the lead in the 10th minute, but Higuain jumped on a defensive lapse to even the score in the 45th.
The drama really picked up from the 84th, after substitute Juan Angel Albin put Getafe ahead 2-1.
Jose Maria Guti Gutierrez equalized from a free kick in the 86th before Pepe was red-carded for a series of aggressive actions that began with a shove on Javier Casquero inside the area to set up the penalty.
Pepe then kicked Casquero in the back as he lay on the ground before stamping on the Getafe midfielder several times. Pepe then punched Albin as players attempted to pry the Portuguese player away.
It was a very tense moment in the match and in that moment I had no option but to foul him, Pepe told Cope radio. I showed very poor character, this sort of thing never happens with me normally.
Pepe also made an expletive reference to the fourth official as he left the field according to the referees match report. The Portugal defender could miss out on the last six games of the season, including a May 2 clasico against Barcelona.
I dont know why I did it, Pepe said. The least I could do was to come here and apologize to all the fans because they know Im not violent.
Madrids Marcelo goaded Cata Diaz after the final whistle with players stepping in to hold the Getafe defender back.
Thats not football, Getafe president Angel Torres said. And what Marcelo did after isnt right either. Its provocative and I think that the disciplinary committee needs to take action.
Also on Tuesday, Fernando Llorente scored a 49th-minute winner to give 10-man Athletic Bilbao a 2-1 win at last-place Numancia in a matchup of teams trying to avoid relegation.
Domingo Cismas left-footed shot in the 10th gave Numancia the lead at Los Pajaritos Stadium before the visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 20th after Aitor Ocio was sent off for a second yellow card after obstructing Asier Goirias run.
Gaizka Toquerro started the rally in the 30th before Llorente slotted the winner from just inside the area for his 13th goal of the season and first in more than a month.
Numancia also finished with 10 men after Sergio Boris was sent off in the 71st.
—
FRANKFURT (AP) - Bayer Leverkusen scored three goals in extra time to beat second-division Mainz 4-1 and advance to the final of the German Cup.
Arturo Vidal, Simon Rolfes and Michal Kadlec scored the extra-time goals after a largely dull game in regulation time during which Mainz played disciplined defense against a Leverkusen team that failed to create many chances.
Leverkusen, which had eliminated defending champion Bayern Munich in the previous round, struggled until the last 10 minutes, when it stepped up the pressure.
Substitute striker Angelos Charisteas scored in the 83rd minute, tapping in the ball after Mainz goalkeeper Dimo Wache fumbled a long-range shot by Renato Augusto.
But Aristide Bance sent the game into extra time with a header at the far post in the 89th, at a time when Charisteas was down in the box claiming injury. The referee did not halt the game and Charisteas later appeared not to be seriously injured.
Vidal scored in the 93rd at the far post, after Wache again failed to control a hard shot. Rolfes secured the victory in the 104th, redirecting the ball into the net after a header by Manuel Friedrich. Kadlec finished off a solo run by rounding Wache in the 117th for the final score.
Leverkusen advanced to the final for the first time in seven years.
In the second semifinal match Wednesday, Hamburger SV plays Werder Bremen.
The final will be played on May 30 in Berlin.
