West Brom relegated

LONDON: West Brom went straight back down to The Championship on Sunday after they lost 2-0 to Liverpool in their Premier League clash. Defeat for West Brom leaves them on 31 points and no mathematical chance of climbing out of the bottom three with just one match remaining. Four teams are embroiled in the battle to avoid the other two places -- Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Hull and Sunderland. — AFP

Parma gain promotio

ROME: Parma gained promotion back to Serie A at the first attempt after a 2-2 draw at Cittadella on Saturday. With two matches to go before the end of the Serie B season, second placed Parma, who won three European trophies during their glory years in the 1990s, are guaranteed a place back in the top flight. Serie B leaders Bari had already assured their promotion a week ago. — AFP

Schneider makes

DUESSELDORF: Germany veteran Bernd Schneider made his first appearance for more than 13 months on Saturday and set up a goal to show national coach Joachim Loew he is ready for an international recall. Schneider, 35, has spent 398 days out after a back injury and a hernia operation, but he came off the bench for Leverkusen in the 73rd minute in the 5-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach and set up the fourth goal for Michal Kadlec. With Germany set to tour China and the United Arab Emirates later this month, Schneider could well be named when the squad is announced on Tuesday. — AFP

Record attendence

BERLIN: A new record for Bundesliga attendance was set on Saturday when 458,650 watched the day's nine league games as a new average mark of 51,000 fans per game was reached. Since the beginning of the season, 12.6 million fans have watched German league games with an average of 42,500 spectators per game, while Saturday's bumper average gate of 51,000 was a new league record for a single day. But a less desirable record was also set Saturday when Bielefeld defender Markus Schuler reached a new unenviable mark for the longest run of games without scoring a goal. The 31-year-old played his 181st game on Saturday and he broke the previous record of 180 goalless games set by Moenchengladbach's Thomas Eichin between 1986 and 1999. — AFP