Man Utd end six-year trophy drought

London, Feb. 28: Manchester United clinched their first major trophy for six years with a ruthless 2-0 win against Newcastle in the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.

Erik ten Hag's side took control by half-time thanks to Casemiro's header and a Sven Botman own goal and held firm despite Newcastle's second-half pressure.

United's first silverware since 2017, when they won the League Cup and the Europa League in the Jose Mourinho era, was just reward for a mature display that underlined the impressive work done by Dutchman Ten Hag since he arrived from Ajax last year.

The celebrations that accompanied United's sixth League Cup triumph could be the first of many trophy parades on the evidence of Ten Hag's transformative first season.

"You have to win the first one and that is what we did today," Ten Hag said.

"We can get a lot of inspiration from this and more confidence that we can do it.

"We are still at the start of restoring Manchester United to where we belong -- winning trophies."

United remain challengers on three other fronts, sitting third in the Premier League and with an FA Cup fifth round tie against West Ham on Wednesday followed by a Europa League last 16 tie against Real Betis in March.

United went ahead in the 33rd minute when Luke Shaw's free-kick arrowed towards the Newcastle six-yard box and Casemiro timed his run perfectly to glance a clinical header past Karius.

Ten Hag's team had the momentum and doubled their lead in the 39th minute. Wout Weghorst's pass found Marcus Rashford inside the area and, with Newcastle's defenders slow to react, he hit a mistimed shot that deflected off Botman and looped over the wrong-footed Karius.

Almeria stun Barca 

La Liga leaders Barcelona tumbled to an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at Almeria on Sunday, failing to capitalise on Real Madrid's derby draw with Atletico to extend their advantage.

El Bilal Toure's fine first half strike split the teams and earned Almeria their first ever victory over Barca, inflicting only the second defeat of the league campaign on the Catalans.

Xavi Hernandez's side still have a seven-point lead over champions Madrid, but their morale took a further blow following their midweek Europa League exit against Manchester United.

Victory would have stretched their advantage in the title race to double figures, as they bid to win La Liga for the first time since 2019.

Elsewhere Jorge Sampaoli's Sevilla twice came from behind but fell to a 3-2 home defeat by Osasuna, leaving them 14th and two points above the relegation zone.

Girona earned an exciting 3-2 win at Athletic Bilbao to climb into mid-table, inspired by the electric Aleix Garcia, who opened the scoring.

Young Celta Vigo star Gabri Veiga struck twice and set up another for Haris Seferovic in a 3-0 win over Real Valladolid.

Milan up to third

AC Milan moved up to third in Serie A after Sunday's 2-0 win over Atalanta, drawing level on points with Inter Milan, who fell further behind runaway leaders Napoli with a 1-0 defeat at Bologna.

Stefano Pioli's side are five points ahead of fifth-placed Lazio in the race for the Champions League thanks in part to Theo Hernandez's volley crashing off the post and into the goal via Juan Musso's back in the 26th minute.

A late dinked finish from Junior Messias at a soaking San Siro ensured Milan had their third league victory in a row. Atalanta stay sixth, three points behind Roma in fourth who can join Milan and Inter on 47 points with a win at bottom side Cremonese on Tuesday.

The Milan giants are a whopping 18 points behind Napoli after Bologna beat Inter 1-0 in Sunday's early match.

Riccardo Orsolini lashed home the only goal of the game in the 76th minute at the Stadio Dall'Ara to move Bologna up to seventh and edge Napoli even closer to their first league title since 1990. Second-placed Inter had the chance to move back to within 15 points of Napoli, who beat Empoli 2-0 on Saturday, with a win.

Mbappe reaches 200 PSG goals

Kylian Mbappe reached 200 goals for Paris Saint-Germain to become the club's joint all-time top scorer as the France superstar netted twice in his side's 3-0 win over Ligue 1 title rivals Marseille on Sunday.

Mbappe scored both his goals at the Velodrome from Lionel Messi assists and in between he set up the Argentine for PSG's other goal as they moved eight points clear at the top of the table.

Mbappe's brace took him to a double century of goals for PSG in just short of 250 appearances since signing from Monaco in 2017. The 24-year-old therefore equals his former teammate Edinson Cavani as the club's record marksman. (AFP)