Manchester City's Aleksandar Kolarov celebrates scoring the second goal against Birmingham City in Birmingham Wednesday. (AP) LONDON: Manchester City slipped eight points behind Premier League leader Manchester United with a 2-2 draw at lowly Birmingham Wednesday. City led 2-1 through Carlos Tevez's 15th Premier League goal of the season and Aleksander Kolarov's first, but Craig Gardner equalized with a 77th-minute penalty for Patrick Vieira's foul on Kevin Phillips. The draw left City three points behind second-place Arsenal and two ahead of Chelsea. Tottenham maintained its challenge for the final Champions League spot with a 1-0 win at Blackburn, secured through Peter Crouch's third-minute goal. Luis Suarez made his Liverpool debut as a substitute in a 2-0 win over Stoke, while Daniel Sturridge scored on his Bolton debut for a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Liverpool has 35 points, two fewer than sixth-place Sunderland. West Ham moved above Wolves after a debut goal by on-loan striker Robbie Keane and two by Victor Obinna secured a 3-1 win at Blackpool, while Damien Duff scored against his former club to give Fulham a 1-0 win over Newcastle. United beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Tuesday to maintain its five-point lead and unbeaten record, while Arsenal beat Everton 2-1 the same day. Chelsea beat Sunderland 4-2, also Tuesday. Madrid-Barcelona final Real Madrid will play fierce rival Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final for the first time in 21 years after Spain's biggest teams both recorded comfortable two-legged wins Wednesday. Madrid beat Sevilla 2-0 for a 3-0 overall win, while Barcelona earlier defeated Almeria 3-0 to complete an 8-0 aggregate victory. Mesut Oezil scored in the 82nd minute for Madrid with a cool finish before Emmanuel Adebayor hit his first goal for the 17-time Copa champion, which is through to a record 37th final and first since 2004. Adriano, Thiago and Ibrahim Affelay scored for Barcelona, which will look to add to its record 25 wins and pick up a second domestic cup in three seasons on April 20 against Madrid, four days after the pair meet in a Spanish league “clasico.” Juventus loses again In Rome, Juventus' winless streak reached four matches with a 2-1 loss at Palermo Wednesday that dropped the struggling 27-time champion into eighth place in Serie A. Former Juventus striker Fabrizio Miccoli put Palermo in front seven minutes in with a shot under the legs of Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, then Giulio Migliaccio doubled the lead in the 20th with a header off a corner. Juventus argued for a penalty but to no avail despite a clear handball by Palermo defender Cesare Bovo in the 34th, and Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio took his anger out over the missed call to cut the lead in half two minutes later with a shot that went by four defenders. Second-place Napoli lost 2-0 at Chievo Verona, which scored goals through Davide Moscardelli and Gennaro Sardo. AS Roma was held to a 1-1 home draw by Brescia, which equalized in the 69th through Brazilian striker Eder after Marco Borriello had put Roma ahead. AC Milan, which drew 0-0 with Lazio Wednesday, holds a five-point lead over Napoli, with Lazio seven points back and Roma nine points behind in fourth. Five-time defending champion Inter Milan, which has played two fewer matches, is 10 points back entering its game at Bari Thursday. Also Wednesday, it was: Cesena 1, Catania 1; Fiorentina 1, Genoa 0; Parma 0, Lecce 1; Sampdoria 0, Cagliari 1; and Udinese 1, Bologna 1.
