ROME: Siena and Atalanta have each clinched promotion back into Italy's Serie A after a year's absence. The two clubs are tied for the Serie B lead with a 10-point lead over Novara with three matches remaining. Siena drew 2-2 with Torino Saturday and Atalanta beat Portogruaro 4-1. Both Siena and Atalanta were relegated from Serie A at the end of last season. A third team will also eventually be promoted from Serie B. Malaga beats Atletico Malaga won its fourth straight match in the Spanish league on Saturday, beating Atletico Madrid 3-0 after goals from Jose Rondon, Baptista and substitute Enzo Maresca . Malaga dominated the first half at Vicente Calderon stadium, and Rondon headed home Jesus Gamez's cross to put his team ahead in the 29th minute. Baptista doubled Malaga's advantage in the 35th when he guided Sebastian Fernandez's pass past goalkeeper David de Gea. Maresca scored in the 84th only seconds after taking the field. Rondon has scored 14 goals this season, while Baptista has netted six in the last three weeks. All topflight matches in Spain began after a minute's silence in memory of Seve Ballesteros, the golf great who died in the early morning. Other results: Getafe 2 Almeria 0; Valencia 3 Real Sociedad 0; Athletic Bilbao 3 Levante 2; Sporting Gijon 2 Deportivo La Coruna 2; Hercules 2 Racing Santander 3. Bayern finishes third Bayern Munich relegated St. Pauli from the Bundesliga with an 8-1 thrashing to clinch at least third place and a Champions League playoff spot Saturday. Mario Gomez scored a hat trick in the victory. Borussia Moenchengladbach boosted its chances of survival with one round to go, beating Freiburg 2-0 at home to climb above Eintracht Frankfurt, which lost 2-0 at home to a relieved Cologne. Moenchengladbach is level on points with Wolfsburg – a 2-1 loser at home to Kaiserslautern – but occupies the league playoff spot because of inferior goal difference. Werder Bremen is safe after a 2-0 home win over champion Borussia Dortmund, as is Stuttgart, which beat Hannover 2-1. Mainz is assured of a Europa League place after a 3-1 win at Schalke, and Hoffenheim won 2-1 at Nuremberg. UEFA to support Blatter Sepp Blatter got a huge boost in his FIFA presidential campaign on Friday as UEFA leaders urged Europe's 53 football federations to re-elect him. UEFA President Michel Platini and his 15 executive committee colleagues signed a letter asking their members to back Blatter, FIFA's president since 1998, over his Qatari challenger Mohamed Bin Hammam. “The UEFA Executive Committee has decided to give its unanimous support to Mr. Joseph S. Blatter in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections and strongly recommends all UEFA member associations to do likewise,” the one-line statement said.The endorsement, if followed across Europe, could be enough to hand 75-year-old Blatter a fourth four-year term in office. Blatter and Bin Hammam go head-to-head in a poll on June 1 at the FIFA congress of up to 208 football nations in Zurich. FIFA rules require the winner to get two-thirds of valid votes in the first ballot or a simple majority in the second round. Platini, who does not have a vote, has significant influence as a popular leader who was re-elected by acclaim at UEFA's congress in Paris in March. He had been expected to back Blatter, as a long-standing ally of the FIFA boss and to further his own presidential ambitions. The former France great is viewed as a strong candidate to succeed Blatter, likely in 2015. One of Platini's UEFA and FIFA executive committee colleagues told The Associated Press that support for Blatter was reached easily.
