Man City wins
Manchester City’s disappointing English Premier League season looks as if it will end with the consolation prize of Champions League qualification after a 3-2 win Saturday over Aston Villa.
An 89th-minute goal by Fernandinho moved the soon-tobe-deposed champions provisionally into second place — above Arsenal and Manchester United, which both play Sunday. City is nine points ahead of fifth-place Liverpool (which drew 0-0 at West Bromwich Albion) and sixth-place Tottenham (2-2 draw at Southampton) with four games left.
In the Spanish league, Lionel Messi and Neymar scored for Barcelona in a 2-0 win at Espanyol that provisionally increased its lead over Real Madrid to five points.
In MLS, Chris Rolfe scored the game-winner in the 64th minute and Eastern Conference co-leader D.C. United (4-1-2) won 2-1 at MLS-leading Vancouver (5-3-1) ... Scott Caldwell scored his first MLS goal and had an assist and the host New England Revolution (4-2-2) beat Real Salt Lake 4-0, extending their undefeated streak to six games to stay tied with United . ... Ethan Finlay had two goals and an assist and the host Columbus Crew beat the Philadelphia Union 4-1. ... Benny Feilhaber scored from distance in stoppage time and Sporting Kansas City rallied to tie the host Houston Dynamo 4-4.
Motor sports: Helio Castroneves will start from the pole position Sunday at the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama after turning a fast lap of 1 minute, 7.1925 seconds in Birmingham.
Will Power starts second.
Saturday night’s scheduled NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was postponed because of persistent rain at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. NASCAR rescheduled the event for Sunday at 10 a.m. PST. Joey Logano will start from the pole.
Obituary: Jim Fanning, the longtime Montreal Expos executive who managed the franchise to its only playoff appearance in Canada, died at 87. As field manager in the strikeshortened 1981 season, he directed Montreal to a first-round win over the Philadelphia Phillies before the Expos lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.