Nitubara: LeBron's team helps Man City

updated 10:01 p.m. ET Oct. 15, 2011

LONDON - Manchester City moved into the English Premier League lead with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa 4-1 on Saturday as Manchester United dropped into second with a 1-1 tie at Liverpool.

Mario Balotelli scored from his back on an overhead kick in the 28th minute, his fourth straight match with a goal, and City pulled away as Adam Johnson scored in the 47th, Vincent Kompany in the 52nd and James Milner in the 71st. Stephen Warnock got a goal in the 65th for visiting Villa.

City (7-0-1), seeking its first league title since 1968, has 22 points, two more than United (6-0-2), which rallied on second-half substitute Javier Hernandez's goal in the 81st minute. Steven Gerrard, making his first start in seven months, had put fifth-place Liverpool (4-2-2) ahead in the 68th minute at Anfield with a free kick that went through a space in the defensive wall that opened when Ryan Giggs moved.

The capacity 45,065 crowd at Anfield included Miami Heat star LeBron James, who Liverpool play in person for the first time since becoming a minority owner of the club.

United and City meet at Old Trafford on Oct. 23.

Chelsea (6-1-1) is third with 19 points following a 3-1 win at home over Everton that ended a six-game winless streak against the Toffees. Daniel Sturridge (31st minute), John Terry (45th) and Ramires (61st) beat American goalkeeper Tim Howard, and Apostolos Vellios scored in the 81st for Everton (2-4-1).

Stoke beat Fulham 2-0, Norwich defeated Swansea 3-1, Queens Park Rangers was held to a 1-1 tie by Blackburn and Bolton won 3-1 at Wigan.

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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Lionel Messi moved into sole possession of second place on the Barcelona career scoring list, getting two goals in a 3-0 win over visiting Racing Santander.

With 196 goals for Barcelona in all competitions, Messi moved past Laszlo Kubala (194) and trails only Cesar Rodriguez (235). Both of Messi's goals came off his right foot, giving him just 34 in his career off his weaker foot.

Messi put Barcelona ahead in the 11th minute at Camp Nou, taking a pass from Andres Iniesta, cutting ;past two defenders and rounding goalkeeper Tono. Xavi Hernandez doubled the lead in the 27th, and Messi scored in the 68th minute off the rebound of Iniesta's shot, which hit a post. Messi has 16 goals in 12 games overall this season and leads the league with 10.

Barcelona center back Gerard Pique will be sidelined for two weeks after leaving in the ninth minute with a muscle tear in his right leg.

Seeking its fourth straight league title, Barcelona (5-0-2) has a one-point lead over Real Madrid (5-1-1), which beat visiting Real Betis 4-1 as Gonzalo Higuain scored his third hat trick in two weeks and Kaka got one goal.

Valencia was held to a 1-1 draw at Mallorca, while Villarreal tied 0-0 at Getafe.

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MILAN (AP) ? Inter Milan lost again, keeping up its awful start as Catania rallied for a 2-1 win.

After Estaban Cambiasso put Inter ahead in the sixth minute, the hosts went ahead on Sergio Almiron's goal in the 46th and Francesco Lodi's penalty kick in the 50th after Luca Castellazzi brought down Gonzalo Bergessio in the penalty area.

Inter (1-4-1) is 17th with just four points.

Defending champion AC Milan (2-2-2) defeated visiting Palermo 3-0 on goals by Antonio Nocerino in the 39th, Robinho in the 55th and Antonio Cassano in the 63rd.

Napoli (3-2-1) lost 2-1 at home to Parma, which got goals from Massimo Gobbi in the 57th and Francesco Modesto in the 82nd, around Giuseppe Mascara's 76th-minute equalizer.

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BERLIN (AP) ? Franck Ribery scored one goal, set up two more and earned a penalty kick as Bayern Munich beat visiting Hertha Berlin 4-0 to extend its lead in the Bundesliga. The match featured six penalty kicks and three red cards Saturday.

Ribery set up Mario Gomez to score in the fifth minute and made it 2-0 two minutes later, before sending Bastian Schweinsteiger through to score in the 13th.

The French winger was brought down by Roman Hubnik in the 68th, and Gomez converted the spot kick a minute later. It was the 12th game in a row without conceding a goal for Bayern, which visits Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Bayern (7-1-1) holds a five-point lead over second-place Borussia Moenchengladbach (5-2-2), which was held to a 2-2 tie at home by Bayer Leverkusen. Schalke lost 2-1 to visiting Kaiserslautern, with American midfielder Jermaine Jones entering for the hosts in the 46th minute, his second straight appearance as a substitute.

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PARIS (AP) ? Michel Bastos scored to lead Lyon over Nancy 3-1 and pull his team even on points at the top of the French league with Paris Saint-Germain and Montpellier.

Olivier Giroud scored a hat trick as Montpellier beat Dijon 5-3 and stayed even with Lyon (6-2-2). PSF (6-1-2) plays at at Ajaccio on Sunday.

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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) ? Rangers conceded a late goal while Celtic rallied from 3-0 down as Scotland's big two endured frustrating draws.

Former Rangers striker Steven Thompson converted David van Zanten's cross in the fifth minute of injury time to cancel out Nikica Jelavic's 48th-minute goal as Rangers (9-0-2) were held 1-1 by St. Mirren at Ibrox.

Celtic (6-3-1) trails its Glasgow rival by 10 points after a 3-3 draw at Kilmarnock, which led 3-0 at the break. Anthony Stokes scored twice in three minutes before Celtic grabbed a point with a Charlie Mulgrew goal in the 80th.

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LeBron's team helps Man City

??Manchester City defeated Aston Villa and overtook rival Manchester United at the top of the Premier League after the defending champions were held to a 1-1 draw at LeBron James' Liverpool.