London, April 13:

Fernando Torres scored his 30th goal of the season and Liverpool beat Blackburn 3-1 on Sunday to strengthen their hold on fourth place in the Premier League.

Steven Gerrard and Andriy Voronin also hit the target for the Reds at Anfield where Roque Santa Cruz replied with an injury-time strike for Rovers.

The victory gives Liverpool 66 points from 34 games and a five-point advantage over neighbour Everton in the race for the fourth spot, which means a shot at next season’s Champions League.

Liverpool appeared low key in the early stages, however, and Blackburn striker Jason Roberts had the ball in the Liverpool net in the sixth minute, a goal TV replays showed was wrongly ruled out for offside.

Liverpool took control after Gerrard’s goal in the 60th minute. The captain swapped passes with Torres and ran past two defenders to fire past goalkeeper Brad Friedel. Torres made it 2-0 in the 82nd, heading home a cross from Gerrard for his 22nd league goal of the season and Voronin turned home a low cross from the right by John Arne Riise.

Santa Cruz produced a spectacular volley in the 93rd for Rovers.

Saturday’s results were: Birmingham 1, Everton 1; Bolton 1, West Ham 0; Derby 0, Aston Villa 6; Reading 0, Fulham 2; Sunderland 1, Manchester City 2; Tottenham 1, Middlesbrough 1; Portsmouth 0, Newcastle 0.

Italian Serie A

MILAN: Hasan Salihamidzic scored twice to help Juventus defeat AC Milan 3-2 in the Serie A on Saturday.

Salihamidzic scored in first-half injury time and again with an 80th-minute header, when Milan were down to 10 men after defender Daniele Bonera was sent off in the 66th for fouling midfielder Mohamed Sissoko. Alessandro Del Piero also scored for Juventus in the 12th minute for his 14th goal of the season. Filippo Inzaghi scored in the 14th and 31st minutes for AC Milan.

Inter Milan lead the standings with 72 points. AS Roma are second with 68, followed by Juventus with 61, Fiorentina with 56, Milan and Sampdoria with 52 and Udinese 51.

Also on Saturday, Fabrizio Miccoli scored a late goal for Palermo to beat Catania 1-0. Miccoli, who had come on as a second-half replacement, connected on a free kick in the 84th minute.

Spanish La Liga

MADRID: Marco Ruben scored with two headers — one disputed by television replays — and rallied Recreativo Huelva to a 2-2 draw against FC Barcelona on Saturday.

The Argentine forward looped the equaliser over approaching goalkeeper Victor Valdes inside the far post in the 71st minute. But it was his first in the 41st minute that caused controversy when the linesman ruled that the ball had crossed the line but video replay suggested Valdes had stopped it.

Samuel Eto’o accounted for both of Barcelona’s goals, outjumping his marker in the second minute to deflect Giovani Dos Santos’ short cross and spraying a bouncing ball from long range into the top corner in the 46th.

Real Madrid lead with 66 points, six more than Barcelona. Villarreal have 59. Recreativo have 37. Earlier, Mohammed Tchite scored in the 83rd to give Racing Santander a 2-1 win over Valencia to maintain their European Champions League chances.