LONDON (AP) ― Fifth-tier Luton became the first non-league club in 24 years to beat top-level opponent in the FA Cup, defeating Norwich 1-0 in the fourth round Saturday on Scott Rendell’s goal in the 80th minute.
Luton, which played in the second tier as recently as 2006-07, is 85 places below Norwich in the English soccer pyramid. There had not been such an upset in the FA Cup since Sutton beat Coventry 2-1 in the third round in 1989. Not since 1949 has a non-league team managed to overcome a top-level team after the third round.
Queens Park Rangers’ Park Ji-sung competes with Milton Keynes Dons’ Dean Bowditch during their English FA Cup on Saturday. (AP-Yonhap News)
Luton, an FA Cup semifinalist in 1994, won the League Cup in 1988 and was in the top division until 1992.
Third-tier MK Dons won 4-2 at Queens Park Rangers, which is last in the Premier League.
Manchester United routed visiting Fulham 4-1 and advanced to the final 16 as Ryan Giggs converted a third-minute penalty kick, Wayne Rooney doubled the lead in the 50th minute and Javier Hernandez added two goals.
Arsenal avoided an upset at Brighton by beating the second-tier club 3-2 as Theo Walcott scored a tiebreaking goal in the 85th minute.
Manchester City, the 2011 champion, won 1-0 at Stoke on Pablo Zabaleta’s 85th-minute goal.
American midfielder Stuart Holden played his second game since a 16-month layoff caused by a knee injury, entering in the 81st minute of Bolton’s 2-1 loss to visiting Everton. John Heitinga came in during the 80th minute for the Toffees and scored in injury time to give David Moyes a win in his 500th game as Everton manager.
Italy
MILAN (AP) ― Defending champion Juventus slipped again in the Serie A title race when it was held to a 1-1 tie at home against 18th-place Genoa.
Fabio Quagliarella tapped in Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cross in the 55th minute, but the visitors rallied when former Juventus forward Marco Borriello, a second-half substitute, dove low to head in Juraj Kucka’s cross.
With one win in its last four league games, Juventus (15-3-4) leads by six points over Napoli (13-4-4) and Lazio (13-5-4), which lost 1-0 at home against Chievo.
Chievo ended Lazio’s 16-game unbeaten streak, scoring in the 61st when Bojan Jokic’s shit hit the crossbar and Alberto Paloschi tapped in the rebound.
Germany
BERLIN (AP) ― Bayer Leverkusen was held to a 0-0 tie and wasted a chance to close the gap on Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich.
Andre Schuerrle came closest to scoring for second-place Leverkusen in a hard-fought game, crashing his shot against a post in the 71st minute. Bayern (14-1-3) plays at Stuttgart on Sunday and can open an 11-place lead over Leverkusen (11-4-4).
Spain
BARCELONA (AP) ― Levante edged visiting Valladolid 2-1 on Antonio Rukavina’s own goal in the 90th minute.
Real Sociedad was held to a 1-1 tie at Celta Vigo, while Espanyol drew 0-0 at Real Zaragoza. League leader Barcelona plays Osasuna on Sunday, while second-place Atletico Madrid visits Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid hosts Getafe.