ENGLAND. Premier League leader Manchester United had to settle for a 1-1 tie at home with surprise Reading Saturday in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Old Trafford. Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Watford and Plymouth Argyle of the second-level League Championship were the only teams to win berths in the quarterfinals, while Premier League champions Chelsea sailed into the quarterfinals with a 4-0 win over Norwich City. West Bromwich is the only other League Championship team still alive after holding Middlesbrough to a 2-2 tie. Arsenal faces a replay at Blackburn Rovers after a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

GERMANY. The troubles continued for Werder Bremen, the leader at the end of the fall campaign, and Bayern Munich, the defending champion. Werder fell to Hamburg, 2-0, on a pair of Rafael van der Vaart goals for its third straight loss. Bayern Munich lost, 1-0. at Alemannia Aachen for its second defeat in three games since the return of Ottmar Hitzfeld as head coach. VfB Stuttgart took over second place from Bremen thanks to a 4-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt. First-place Schalke, which leads by five points, had to settle for a 2-2 tie with Wolfsburg after blowing a two-goal lead.

ITALY. First-place Inter Milan won its 16th successive Serie A win by beating Cagliari, 1-0, and opened up a 14-point lead when second-place Roma lost, 1-0, at Empoli. Defender Nicolas Burdisso scored the game's only goal in the 11th minute, heading in Zlatan Ibrahimovic's cross. Palermo was held to a 1-1 tie by relegation candidate Chievo Verona and fell 20 points behind Inter.