Manchester United won its fourth straight game, beating Stoke 2-1 Tuesday night on Juan Mata's 59th-minute goal to maintain fourth place in the English Premier League.
In Spain, Real Madrid routed third-tier Cornella 5-0 to advance to the Copa del Rey's fifth round on 9-1 aggregate.
A look at the top action in Europe on Tuesday:
---
ENGLAND
At Old Trafford, United lacked creativity without the injured Wayne Rooney and Angel Di Maria, but Marouane Fellaini scored on a header off Ander Herrera's cross in front in the 21st minute.
Steven Nzonzi tied the score with a shot from the edge of the area in the 39th, but Mata put the Red Devils ahead for good on an inswinging free kick that bounced in. United (7-3-4) is eight points back of first-place Chelsea (10-0-3), which hosts Tottenham on Wednesday.
Liverpool (6-6-2) is eighth after coming from behind to win 3-1 at Leicester. The hosts went ahead in the 22nd when Leonardo Ulloa's shot a the post and rebounded into the net off goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. But Adam Lallana tied the score four minutes later and captain Steven Gerrard put Liverpool ahead in the 54th. After Wes Morgan was ejected for dragging down Rickie Lambert, Jordan Henderson got the final goal in the 83rd.
West Ham (7-4-3) stayed fifth after rallying to edge West Brom 2-1 on goals by Kevin Nolan and James Tomkins, and Swansea (6-4-4) is sixth after beating Queens Park Rangers 2-0 on goals by Sung-Yueng Ki and Wayne Routledge.
QPR (3-9-2) is next-to-last, one point above Leicester (2-8-4), and Burnley (2-6-6) climbed out of the relegation zone by drawing 1-1 with Newcastle. Aston Villa (4-6-4) and American goalkeeper Brad Guzan won 1-0 at Crystal Palace as Christian Benteke scored his first goal in nine months, giving the Villans their first league win since September.
---
SPAIN
With Cristiano Ronaldo resting, James Rodriguez led Madrid's attack and scored twice in the first half in between setting up Francisco ''Isco'' Alarcon.
After Javier Hernandez scored the fourth goal in the second half, Jese Rodriguez came off the bench to score on his return after an injury layoff of nearly nine months.
Defending champion Madrid and Cornella played their first leg in October so that Madrid can play at the Club World Cup later this month.
In first-leg matches, Athletic Bilbao drew 1-1 at third-tier Alcoyano, and Espanyol won 2-0 at Alaves.
---
FRANCE
Andre-Pierre Gignac saw his goal-bound shot saved with just seconds remaining as French league leader Marseille missed several chances in a 1-1 draw at Lorient.
