LONDON – Manchester City set up a FA Cup semifinal against fierce rival Manchester United thanks to Micah Richards' second-half winner in a 1-0 victory over Reading on Sunday.
The England defender met a 74th-minute corner by David Silva with a powerful header to oust the second-tier visitors and put City into the last four of the competition for the first time since 1981.
United lies in wait for Roberto Mancini's side at Wembley on the weekend of April 16-17, following the Premier League leader's 2-0 victory over Arsenal at Old Trafford on Saturday.
"It was very difficult — as the game went on, it got harder. Reading did well, they defended well. Fortunately the header went in," Richards said.
In Sunday's other quarterfinal, Danny Higginbotham's 68th-minute free kick earned Stoke a 2-1 win over in-form Premier League rival West Ham.
Stoke — through to a first FA Cup semi in 39 years — will next play Bolton. The team with American midfielder Stuart Holden beat Birmingham 3-2 on Saturday.
It will be the first semifinal between Manchester's two biggest clubs since 1926, when City won 3-0. The Blues went on to lose the final to Bolton.
"There is no easy way to the final — we are happy to play United, we are looking forward to it," City center back Vincent Kompany said.
City, which is bidding to end a 35-year trophy drought, lost to United in last season's League Cup semifinals but Mancini has strengthened his squad considerably since then.
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MADRID (AP) — Jesus Nava scored in the 49th minute, giving host Sevilla a 1-1 draw against Barcelona, which tied a 1973-74 club recording by extending its league unbeaten streak to 26 games. Barcelona's lead was cut to five points over second-place Real Madrid.
Bojan Krkic scored his first goal since Dec. 12, off Daniel Alves' pass in the 30th minute, to put Barcelona ahead. Lionel Messi appeared to score on a free kick in the eighth minute, but the goal was disallowed because teammate Sergio Busquets tussled with Martin Caceres during the play. Messi hit the crossbar in the 42nd, and Andres Iniesta hit the crossbar late.
Messi pounded the ground in pain with a fist in first-half injury time after knocking knees with Varas but left the field under his own power and finished the match.
New Jersey-born Giuseppe Rossi scored his 15th league goal and 25th overall to help Villarreal to a 1-1 tie against Sporting Gijon, which finished two men short after the ejections of Jose Angel and Rafael Sastre. Rossi scored in the 29th, and Diego Castro converted a penalty kick in second-half injury time.
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ROME (AP) — Ten-man AC Milan rallied for a 1-1 draw with last-place Bari after Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was ejected for punching an opponent in the stomach.
Second-half substitute Antonio Cassano scored in the 82nd minute for the Serie A leader following a superb cross from Luca Antonini. Hungary forward Gergely Rudolf had put Bari ahead in the 39th, finishing off a perfectly executed set piece.
Ibrahimovic was given a straight red card for hitting Marco Rossi in the 73rd after the defender beat him to a header. If Ibrahimovic is given a multimatch ban he'll miss the derby with Inter on April 3.
Milan restored its five-point lead over Inter Milan after its city rival was held to a 1-1 draw at Brescia on Friday. Third-place Napoli got within six points of Milan with a 3-1 win at Parma. After Raffaele Palladino put the hosts ahead in the 29th minute, Napoli got goals from Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Christian Maggio. Parma was reduced to 10 men when Daniele Galloppa was sent off for a seemingly inadvertent kick to Hamsik's stomach.
Elsewhere, Antonio Di Natale raised his league-best scoring total to 24 goals as Udinese won 4-0 at Cagliari to join Napoli in third place, nine points behind Milan.
Also, Roma captain Francesco Totti scored twice in a 2-0 derby win over Lazio — Roma's fifth consecutive win over its city rival.
Lazio defender Stefan Radu was ejected for headbutting Roma midfielder Fabio Simplicio in the 88th.
In other matches on a rainy day up and down the peninsula, it was: Catania 1, Sampdoria 0; Chievo Verona 0, Fiorentina 1; Genoa 1, Palermo 0; and Lecce 0, Bologna 1.
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BERLIN (AP) — Renato Augusto's late goal gave Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 win at Mainz that closes the gap at the top of the Bundesliga standings to nine points.
The Brazilian midfielder robbed Mainz defender Bo Svensson of possession before unleashing an unstoppable effort past goalkeeper Christian Wetklo into the top left corner in the 82nd minute.
With eight games to play, Leverkusen remains second on 52 points behind leader Borussia Dortmund. Mainz slipped to fifth, two points behind Bayern Munich.
In the evening game, Sven Schipplock scored a late winner for Stuttgart at St. Pauli in a come-from-behind 2-1 win that moves his side out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
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PARIS (AP) — Belgium midfielder Eden Hazard scored the winner in injury time as Lille beat Valenciennes 2-1 in the northern derby to move three points clear at the top of the French league.
Moussa Sow had given Lille the lead in the 39th minute, before Gregory Pujol equalized in the 59th.
Following a Valenciennes defensive mistake in added time, the 20-year-old Hazard scored with a quick strike after controlling the ball and turning to shoot.
Lille earned its second straight league win after beating Marseille by the same score last weekend and is now three points ahead of second-place Rennes.
Also Sunday, Monaco left the relegation zone and climbed to 17th place with a 1-0 win at Bordeaux. Olivier Giroud scored twice as Montpellier overcame a two-goal deficit to tie 2-2 at Paris Saint-Germain.
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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Rangers required a late own goal by Kilmarnock full back Tim Clancy to clinch a narrow 2-1 victory at Ibrox and close to within two points of Scottish Premier League leader Celtic.
Clancy deflected a cross by Slovakia winger Vladimir Weiss into his own net in the 87th minute for the winning goal.
Senegal international El-Hadji Diouf put Rangers in front in the 38th but Jamie Hamill converted a penalty just after the hour mark to draw Kilmarnock level.
If Rangers wins its game in hand over Celtic, the Scottish champions will climb above their city rivals into first place.
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