Madrid, April 29:

Joaquin Sanchez’s two second-half goals helped Valencia beat Recreativo Huelva 2-0 on Saturday and maintain its hopes of a third Spanish league title in six years.

Joaquin struck on the hour when he sidefooted an angled shot home after the ball was played into his path by striker David Villa. The right winger doubled his tally three minutes later after meeting a floated cross by midfielder David Silva with a volley at the far post.

Valencia’s victory lifted it into fourth place with 56 points from 32 games. Recreativo remained seventh with 49. Defending champion FC Barcelona lead the league with 59. Sevilla has 58, and Real Madrid 57.

Also, sixth-place Atletico Madrid drew 0-0 with struggling Betis to affect its chances of securing a place in next season’s Champions League. Atletico, which has six games remaining, has 51 points. Betis stayed 15th with 35 points.

Premiership

LONDON: Manchester United moved five points clear in the Premier League title race by scoring four straight goals to beat Everton 4-2 as Chelsea drew 2-2 with Bolton on Saturday. Also Saturday, it was: Blackburn 4, Charlton 1; Aston Villa 2, Manchester City 0; Tottenham 3, Middlesbrough 2; Portsmouth 2, Liverpool 1; Sheffield United 1, Watford 0 and West Ham 3, Wigan 0.

Charlton lost 4-1 at Blackburn to drop to No 19 with 33 points. For Blackburn, Jason Roberts scored twice and Matt Derbyshire once to add to an own-goal by Hermann Hreidarsson, while Darren Bent scored for Charlton.

Sheffield United won 1-0 over last-place Watford 1 after an own-goal by Chris Powell — to move to 38 points, three above the drop zone.

First-half goals from Benjamin Mwaruwari and Niko Kranjcar lifted Portsmouth into seventh place with a 2-1 win over Liverpool. Robbie Keane scored two goals and Dimitar Berbatov one to lead Tottenham to a 3-2 win at Middlesbrough, which had goals from Mark Viduka and Emanuel Pogatetz. Manchester City had a league record seventh consecutive home shutout when John Carew and Shaun Maloney scored for Aston Villa in a 2-0 win.

Italian Serie A

ROME: AC Milan warmed up for the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals with a 1-0 win at Torino in Serie A. Also, Fiorentina beat Chievo Verona 1-0 on a 64th-minute goal by Reginaldo.

Clarence Seedorf scored in the 26th to move Milan ahead of Lazio into third place. Torino was reduced to 10 men in the 73rd when Oscar Brevi was shown his second yellow card.

On Wednesday, Milan hosts Manchester United in the Champions League. United won the opening leg 3-2 on Tuesday. Milan, which began the season with an eight-point penalty from the Italian match-fixing scandal, has 59 points. Lazio has 57 points. Torino (33) is only two points clear of the relegation zone.