MANCHESTER: Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Robin van Persie scored as Manchester United rubbed salt into Liverpool's wounds with a crushing 3-0 home victory in the Premier League on Sunday. Rooney and Mata both found the net before half-time, the latter apparently from an offside position, before van Persie added a third to avenge United's loss to Liverpool by the same scoreline at Old Trafford in March. Victory, United's sixth in a row, allowed Louis van Gaal's side to move back to within eight points of leaders Chelsea and five of champions Manchester City, fuelling hopes of a slow-burning title push. United's fans finished the game by chanting "You're getting sacked in the morning!" at Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers, whose side limped out of the Champions League in mid-week and now trail United by 10 points. But Liverpool might have emerged from the game with more credit had it not been for a stunning display by United goalkeeper David de Gea, who denied Raheem Sterling and substitute Mario Balotelli three times each. Rodgers had reacted to the poor form of his own goalkeeper, Simon Mignolet, by dropping him in favour of Brad Jones, and the Australian's presence on the pitch at kick-off was not the only novelty.

Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini has claimed that he was made to feel like a scapegoat for his team's struggles during the 2013-14 season, in remarks published on Tuesday. Fellaini followed manager David Moyes from Everton to Old Trafford last year in a £27.5 million ($43.6 million, 35.1 million euros) transfer, but failed to impress as the club slipped to a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Premier League.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid equalled their biggest ever away win in La Liga with a 8-2 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna on Saturday. Ronaldo opened the scoring with a fantastic header from Alvaro Arbeloa's cross, but the Portuguese was upstaged by James Rodriguez and the Colombian doubled the visitors' advantage with a sumptuous left-footed effort that curled into the top corner. A goalkeeping howler from German Lux then allowed Ronaldo to fire into an empty net to

LONDON / Following a period of relative parsimony in Alex Ferguson’s final years as Manchester United manager, the English giants have changed course dramatically in the 15 months since he retired. Ferguson was fond of the refrain that there was “no value” in the transfer market whenever he was asked to explain United’s apparent reluctance to spend, but the club’s recent travails have prompted a radical rethink. After the sacking of David Moyes and a seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season, United have allowed new manager Louis van Gaal to spend over £150 million ($249 million, 190 million euros) on new players. Culminating in the arrivals of Argentina winger Angel di Maria for a British-record fee of £59.7 million and Colombia striker Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from Monaco costing around £6 million, it was an unprecedented splurge, even for a club worth as much as United. Prior to those headline-grabbing arrivals, United had already been busy remodelling their squad with moves for Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera, England left-back Luke Shaw, and Di Maria’s Argentina team-mate Marcos Rojo. United have also signed Daley Blind, a member of the Netherlands squad that finished third at the World Cup under Van Gaal, in a £14 million deal from Ajax. With captain Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Alexander Buttner, Danny Welbeck and Shinji Kagawa leaving, and Ryan Giggs hanging up his boots to become Van Gaal’s assistant, it has been a period of great upheaval at Old Trafford.