Torres has endured a mostly miserable 15 months since his British record £50 million move from Liverpool, but the Spanish striker looks revitalised after his crucial late goal in Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final triumph against Barcelona.

He was far too hot for QPR’s statuesque defenders to handle and scored twice in the first half and once after the break to seal his first treble since September 2009, when he scored three for Liverpool against Hull.

Early strikes from Daniel Sturridge and John Terry had set the tone as the Blues destroyed QPR with four goals in the first 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge and Florent Malouda completed their biggest Premier League win of the season.

Chelsea move above Tottenham, who host Blackburn later on Sunday, into fifth place and within one point of fourth placed Newcastle, who visit the Bridge on Wednesday.

With the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday and the Champions League final against Bayern Munich next month, Chelsea are eyeing a glorious end to a difficult season.

In contrast, QPR, who netted late on through Djibril Cisse, are above the relegation zone only on goal difference and face a nervous finale as they try to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.

The match had started without the traditional pre-match handshake, which was scrapped to avoid affecting Terry’s upcoming trial over charges of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

But Sturridge, one of six changes made by interim boss Roberto Di Matteo, quickly got the focus back on football.

Just 45 seconds after kick off, Sturridge opened the scoring with a ferocious strike from the left edge of the penalty area that flashed past Paddy Kenny at his near post.

Confidence was clearly surging through Chelsea after the epic win at the Camp Nou and Frank Lampard went close to increasing the lead when his delicate chip forced Kenny to tip over.

That was only a temporary escape for QPR as Terry got the second goal from the resulting corner, the Chelsea captain out-muscling Clint Hill to reach Juan Mata’s corner and direct a downwards header past Kenny from close-range.

There was a real menace about Chelsea every time they came forward and Torres, preferred up front to Didier Drogba, reprised his decisive effort against Barca to effectively kill off QPR in the 19th minute.

Salomon Kalou played an exquisite pass from the right flank towards Torres, who made a perfectly timed run into the penalty area before rounding Kenny and slotting home from a tight angle.

While it was Chelsea’s defensive resilience that earned the plaudits in Barcelona, this was a chance for their forwards to take the spotlight against opponents who looked totally out of their depth in the face of such incisive attacking.

The fourth goal arrived in the 25th minute when Nedum Onuoha’s panicked attempt to head a Lampard pass back toward Kenny surprised the QPR goalkeeper, who had raced off his line in an attempt to deal with the danger.

As the ball slipped out of Kenny’s grasp, Torres was able to pick his spot and slide his 10th goal of the season into the empty net.

After such a craven capitulation in the first half, QPR were happy to opt for damage limitation after the break.

But Torres was able to complete his treble with a cool finish from Mata’s pass in the 64th minute, prompting Blues owner Roman Abramovich to exchange delighted high fives with friends in his executive box.

French midfielder Malouda came off the bench to sweep home Chelsea’s sixth goal in the 80th minute before Cisse got one back for QPR with a hooked finish four minutes later.

Rampant Chelsea hit QPR for six is a post from: Second-String Fullback

Giggs, in line to make his 908th appearance for United at Eastlands, has experienced planty of derby highs, and the occasional low, in his career.

But the importance of this meeting is something else as a win for City would see them replace United at the top of the Premier League table on goal difference with just two more games of the season remaining.

As someone who, as a schoolboy, trained with the Blues and then grew up in the city, Giggs is acutely aware of how important these all-Manchester battles have always been.

Now though, it is something else, right up there with the very biggest matches Giggs has appeared in throughout his long and illustrious career.

“These are the sort games which I am still involved in football for,” said the 38-year-old veteran.

“They are big, title-deciding games.

“Apart from cup finals this is as big as you can get.”

He added: “They’ve been saying for the last two or three years that every derby is the biggest ever.

“Obviously with three games to go and almost being neck and neck going to the finish there is no mistaking this is a massive game and the biggest in recent times,” the Welsh midfielder added.

“But as a United player, you’re used to big games.

“You have to block out all the hype and the predictions. That’s been going on all the season anyway, with people saying City were going to win the title and then United.

“It’s different for the fans. I must admit it’s hard but you have to be professional and not let emotions get too far ahead of you.

“Our job is to train well and be ready to perform when kick-off comes.”

United lost 6-1 to City earlier this season and have seen an eight point lead earlier this month whittled away.

“We’ve had reminders throughout the season where we’ve lost games or put in poor performances and we’ve always reacted. That’s one of the reasons we’re still up there,” said Giggs.

“Hopefully, after the disappointment (of a 4-4 draw) against Everton that’s the case again.

“City were on fire pre-Christmas and really we were just trying to hang on, then we’ve come into form over the second half of the season.

“Now it’s come down to this. We’re neck and neck and it’s about whoever puts in the performance.”

Giggs insisted United would be going all out for three points on Monday.

“We’ve got to try and win. Obviously if there’s a few minutes to go and it’s all square we won’t be pushing six or seven players forward.

“But if we just try to defend all game we might come unstuck, so we’ll go for it.

“I’m sure they will be fancying themselves to win because they’re a good team and they’re at home.

“But obviously the scenarios are more in our favour than City.

“We’re Manchester United, we’re the champions and we’ll try and put out a statement that we deserve to win this league.”

Giggs eager for crunch derby test is a post from: Second-String Fullback

With an inspired performance, the Blues beat Barcelona 1-0 Wednesday night in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal and set up a must-see second leg of the total-goals series in Spain next week.

Either Barcelona will move within a victory of becoming the first back-to-back winner in more than two decades, or Chelsea will have the opportunity to win Europe’s top club title for the first time.

“Now they are favorites,” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. “1-0 is a good result for them. You can imagine them having 10 players behind the ball again.”

Lionel Messi lost possession of the ball in midfield, and Frank Lampard passed to Ramires for a counterattack. Ramires crossed to Drogba, who scuffed his shot but still beat goalkeeper Victor Valdes in the second minute of first-half stoppage time for his 38th Champions League goal. It was Chelsea’s only shot on target.

“It was almost perfect,” Chelsea interim manager Roberto Di Matteo said. “When you play Barcelona, you have to do a lot of defending and they have all the possession. You have to limit their threat and be clinical when you get your chances. It’s 50-50 now — there is still a second leg to be played away from home.”

Barcelona outshot Chelsea 24-5 had 72 percent possession, with Alexis Sanchez hitting the crossbar in the ninth minute and Pedro Rodriguez striking a post in second-half injury time.

“Only the winners are remembered,” Guardiola said when asked if his team had been “mugged.”

It was the first Champions League loss in 14 months for Barcelona, seeking to become the first team to win consecutive titles since AC Milan in 1989-90. The Blaugrana are 43-3-11 in all competitions this season.

“It will go down as one of our best performances,” said Chelsea captain John Terry, who has played with cracked ribs in recent weeks. “We had to be patient — we didn’t touch the ball in the first 10 or 15 minutes. It was a tireless performance.”

Just before Drogba scored, a shot by Cesc Fabregas was cleared off the goal line by Chelsea’s Ashley Cole. Fabregas had fluffed a shot wide with much of the goal to shoot for in the 17th minute.

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill was outstanding alongside Terry to repeatedly deny Messi, who has 63 goals this season but failed to score for only the second time in his last 15 matches.

“This game is about putting the ball into the net,” Guardiola said. “And it’s the most difficult thing. Now the challenge is to create these chances again. Maybe we will have to be more adventurous, take more risks.”

With a must-win “Clasico” against Real Madrid in the Spanish league to come on Saturday and then the return leg against Chelsea three days later, Barca has little time to regroup if it wants to reach the Champions League final for the third time in four years.

In the other semifinal, Bayern Munich has a 2-1 lead over Real Madrid heading into next Wednesday’s second leg in Spain.

Just sixth in the Premier League, Chelsea is unbeaten in its last six games against Barcelona. In their previous meeting, in the second leg of the 2009 semifinals, Barcelona advanced on Andres Iniesta’s goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time. An apoplectic Drogba left the field screaming at referee Tom Henning Ovrebo, earning a three-game suspension.

Three years later, the 34-year-old Drogba was all smiles as he lapped up the acclaim of the home fans.

“We have learned and we have improved from three years ago because we didn’t concede,” Drogba said. “The result is a good one, and we will go there and try to score another goal.”

Drogba scores to lead Chelsea over Barca 1-0 is a post from: Second-String Fullback

Summitt, 59, is the all-time wins leader among NCAA basketball coaches with 1,098 wins in 38 seasons beginning in 1974.

“I’ve loved being the head coach at Tennessee for 38 years, but I recognize that the time has come to move into the future,” said Summitt.

Holly Warlick, an assistant at Tennessee for 27 seasons and a former player under Summitt, has been named Summitt’s successor and will take over as head coach of the basketball programme.

The Lady Vols captured eight national championships under Summitt’s leadership — in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, and 2008 — and played in 13 national championship games.

Summitt has been given the title of head coach emeritus.

Summitt steps down as Tennessee coach is a post from: Second-String Fullback

“I don’t criticise the referee, I accept his decisions,” Mourinho, who has a reputation for doing exactly the opposite, told reporters.

“They scored a goal which should have been disallowed but that doesn’t give me any reason to criticise.

“A draw would have been a fairer result. This is football, whoever scores wins and the game ends when it ends, nothing else.”

“It’s not a terrible result,” he added after Bayern snatched a win with a last-minute goal.

“We wanted to win, you start to feel it’s going to be difficult, the two teams were tired, there was a lot of fighting for the ball and when it seemed it would be a draw, they scored.”

Although it was a fractious encounter, Bayern’s 66-year-old coach Jupp Heynckes thought it used to be worse in the old days.

“It’s the semi-final of the Champions League, so it was always going to be a physical match and both teams showed that,” he said.

“When I think of the old European Cup, especially against Italian teams, those were hard fights back then, often very difficult.

“I think the referee, apart from a few incidents, had a good game.”

Bayern’s first goal offside, says Mourinho is a post from: Second-String Fullback

Tim Duncan contributed 19 points while Argentina’s Manu Ginobili added 15 as the Spurs won for the 18th time in their past 21 games, improving to 44-16 to edge past Oklahoma City, 44-17, for the top spot in the West.

Only the Chicago Bulls, with an NBA-best 46-15 record, have a better mark than the Spurs in the fight for the overall home-court advantage in the NBA playoffs, which begin April 28.

Six days after the Lakers routed the Spurs 98-84 in San Antonio, the Spurs inflicted the most lopsided home defeat upon the Lakers since March of 2007, when the Dallas Mavericks ripped Los Angeles 108-72.

“We were motivated,” Parker said. “They beat us bad last time. We were on a mission. We moved the ball around well. We shot the ball well.”

The Lakers played without star guard Kobe Bryant for the sixth game in a row because of a left shin injury, falling to 4-2 without him. Bryant has said he will be back in uniform before the regular season ends next week.

French playmaker Parker, who scored 19 points in the first half on 9-of-12 shooting and finished 14-of-20 from the field, heaped praise upon Duncan, who grabbed eight rebounds and helped ignite a key run late in the second quarter.

“Vintage Tim Duncan. He played a great game,” Parker said. “If he keeps playing like that, I like our chances.”

“We’re always under the radar,” Parker said. “We like it like that.”

The Lakers fell to 39-23, snapping their four-game win streak and trimming their lead over the Los Angeles Clippers in the Pacific division to one-half game. Andrew Bynum led the Lakers in scoring with 21 points.

The turning point came late in the second quarter when the Spurs scored 18 points in a row, aided by turnovers of five consecutive Laker possessions, as part of a 24-6 run over the final five minutes of the first half.

The Spurs led 63-47 at half-time, took a 91-70 edge into the fourth quarter and stretched their lead to as many as 24 points in the second half, denying any hope of a late comeback bid by the Lakers.

San Antonio Spurs rout LA Lakers to seize West lead is a post from: Second-String Fullback

The sport’s governing body, the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), and commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone made separate announcements just hours apart in Shanghai, venue of the Chinese Grand Prix.

The controversial Bahrain event set for April 22 has overshadowed the lead-up to Sunday’s race in Shanghai and many teams are believed to have grave concerns.

It was postponed last year after protests against the government erupted, and then removed from the 2011 schedule, and was thought to be in jeopardy once again because of the more than year-long demonstrations.

With the FIA and Ecclestone under intense pressure to make a final ruling, the flamboyant 81-year-old had a 30-minute meeting with the teams before emerging to proclaim the race had never been in any doubt.

Asked by AFP if he was 100 percent sure Bahrain was on, he said: “Two hundred percent.”

Ecclestone added: “Everybody’s happy. You guys are happy.”

Prompted if he had any concerns, he said: “Not at all. It’s a ‘problem’ which has been discussed by the media, who have no idea what is going on.

“This race is on the calendar and has been on the calendar for quite a long time. We will be there. All the teams are happy to be there.

“I know people who live there and it’s all very quiet and peaceful.”

He added: “Formula One has put Bahrain on the map. They will sort out their internal problems, I am quite sure. I think it is good for Bahrain. Our position is quite clear: we don’t get involved in politics.”

The FIA said in a statement that it was “satisfied” that sufficient security was in place at the Sakhir circuit to deter protesters who say they will target the event.

FIA president Jean Todt led a fact-finding mission to the kingdom in November, it added, meeting the interior minister, members of the royal family, European ambassadors and the business community.

“All expressed their wish for the grand prix to go ahead in 2012, and since then, the FIA has kept in close touch with all these stakeholders,” the FIA said.

“Away from the public eye, the FIA has received regular security briefings from the most senior diplomatic officials based in the kingdom as well as from other independent experts.”

Bahrain says it is now safe there, despite a recent upsurge in violence and mounting sectarian tensions, including a bomb blast on Monday that wounded seven police officers and a revenge attack on Shiite villagers.

Washington said this week that it was “deeply concerned” and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday criticised “the excessive use of force” against protesters.

Publicly, at least, teams were putting on a brave face.

“We are confident in the FIA. They are much closer to the situation than any of the teams are,” said Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, after the talks with Ecclestone.

“They are responsible for the safety of not just the drivers, but the team personnel, the media, the spectators, and we have to absolutely trust and respect the FIA.

“They’ve come out with a statement today that’s very clear. They’ve obviously had consultations with all the relevant parties so we respect their decision.”

Asked if he was happy with the decision, Horner said: “The thing is that it is now clear. The confusing thing has been the uncertainty. Everybody in the paddock is now clear that there will be a race in Bahrain next week.”

McLaren driver and 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton gave little away.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me,” he said, denying it was a relief that a decision had finally been made.

“I’m just focused on this race first and foremost.”

Bahrain Grand Prix cleared despite safety fears is a post from: Second-String Fullback

The 43-year-old seven times world champion, whose last win was with Ferrari in Shanghai in 2006, lapped the monumental circuit with a best time of one minute 35.973 seconds after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton laid down a marker in the morning.

Hamilton, who will have a five place grid penalty for Sunday’s race due to an unscheduled gearbox change that has wrecked his hopes of a third pole position in a row, was second fastest after lunch.

The 2008 world champion, last year’s winner and the only driver to have triumphed twice in Shanghai, completed only seven laps in the morning but topped the timing screens in 1:37.106.

With a damp start to the session after overnight rain, the Briton was happy to save his tyres in the knowledge that he will need every strategic advantage on Sunday if he is to celebrate a first win of the season.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Schumacher, whose team saw off a protest by rivals Lotus on Thursday over their controversial rear wing, were second and third quickest respectively in the first session.

Mexican Sergio Perez, who took his Sauber to a stunning second place in Malaysia last month, was fourth in the morning ahead of Japanese team mate Kamui Kobayashi but the usual suspects pushed them back in the afternoon.

Red Bull’s double champion Sebastian Vettel ended the day third fastest with Australian team mate Mark Webber fourth.

Ferrari seemed mired in problems again, with championship leader Fernando Alonso lapping 11th and 10th fastest in the two sessions. Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa was 17th in the afternoon.

Vettel, who has yet to win this season or qualify on the front row after dominating 2011, was using a different exhaust set-up to Webber.

Force India’s French reserve Jules Bianchi made his practice debut, replacing Britain’s Paul Di Resta for the first session.

Other less familiar Friday names included Finnish reserve Valtteri Bottas for Williams and Dutch driver Giedo van der Garde for Caterham.

Schumacher puts Mercedes on top in China is a post from: Second-String Fullback

Former Chelsea striker Anelka became the most high-profile player in the Chinese league when he signed up with Shenhua in January.

Former France international Jean Tigana followed in Anelka’s footsteps and signed a one-year contract to coach the club, which finished 11th in the league last season.

Despite the big-name signings, the club is fifth in the table, having won two out of their five matches so far this term.

“We have terminated the services of our three assistant coaches and now Anelka will take over as a temporary measure in their role,” a spokesperson for the club said on Thursday.

“We will be announcing new appointments for assistant coaches next week. Tigana remains our head coach.”

Anelka muddied the waters later when he tweeted: “It’s official I just become the new player-manager of Shanghai Shenhua.”

Anelka to assist in Shenhua coaching is a post from: Second-String Fullback

Jones, whose young son Luca died of leukaemia late last year, was thrust into the spotlight at Blackburn Rovers in midweek when Doni was dismissed for bringing down Junior Hoilett in the penalty area with Liverpool leading the Premier League game 2-0.

The Australia international’s first job was to save Yakubu’s spot kick, after which he raised a finger to the sky.

While he was twice beaten later in the 3-2 victory, once from the spot after he escaped a red card after a fumble, his performance and composure so soon after a personal tragedy impressed manager Kenny Dalglish.

“You can only guess what it must be like to go through what he’s been through, but he has done and I’m sure he enjoyed his first bit of action on Tuesday night, saving a penalty,” Dalglish said of Jones, who was signed from Middlesbrough in August 2010 but has rarely featured.

“We know that to do what he’s done has shown a great deal of strength of character.”

Doni’s appeal was rejected by the FA, a statement from the English governing body said on Thursday.

With regular keeper Pepe Reina also suspended following a recent sending off against Newcastle United, Liverpool have recalled youngster Peter Gulacsi from a loan spell at Hull City as backup for the semi-final at Wembley.

While it will be an emotional day for Perth-born Jones, it will also be a poignant occasion for the club on the weekend of the 23rd anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy in which 96 Liverpool fans died at an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

Dalglish was manager on that occasion in his first stint in charge and said it was fitting Saturday’s semi-final was against Everton, the team Liverpool beat to win the FA Cup final in 1989 just weeks after the shocking events in Sheffield.

Saturday’s match will be preceded by a minute’s silence.

“A minute’s silence at Wembley – it’s ironic that it’s Liverpool and Everton at Wembley again because that was the final that year,” Dalglish told a news conference on Thursday.

“It’s going to be very emotive for everybody. The Evertonians were affected by Hillsborough as well as the Liverpool fans, with family members who never came home.

“It will be poignant and I’m sure both sets of fans will grace the minute’s silence with the dignity they’ve shown since 1989.”

Liverpool, who won the League Cup earlier this year but are eighth in the Premier League, parted company with Director of Football Damien Comolli earlier on Thursday.

Liverpool’s third choice keeper Jones set for is a post from: Second-String Fullback