Football: Messi, Ronaldo, Aguero all shine

Barcelona's Lionel Messi (L) vies the ball with Eibar's Dani Garcia during their Spanish first...
Barcelona's Lionel Messi (L) vies the ball with Eibar's Dani Garcia during their Spanish first division match at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. REUTERS/Albert Gea
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued their fantastic double act in La Liga, Sergio Aguero shone on a dramatic weekend in England, while Bayern Munich and Marseille maintained their dominance of the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 respectively.

Meanwhile, England leaders Chelsea, champions Manchester City and surprise challengers Southampton all won on another weekend of high drama in the Premier League.

City's Sergio Aguero produced the best performance, scoring all four goals in a 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad, in a game featuring four penalties. Aguero could have had five goals if one of his three spot kicks had not been saved by Hugo Lloris.

Chelsea, five points clear of City, maintained their unbeaten start with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace thanks to Oscar and Cesc Fabregas, with his his first league goal for Chelsea, in a match that ended with both teams reduced to 10 men.

Surprise package Southampton stayed third with an 8-0 win over Sunderland, their biggest ever top flight victory, while Liverpool won an amazing game 3-2 at Queens Park Rangers when Steven Caulker put past his own keeper with QPR's second own goal of the game in the 95th minute.

GERMANY Leaders Bayern Munich continued their Bundesliga charge, demolishing Werder Bremen 6-0 with Mario Goetze and Philipp Lahm each scoring twice to protect their four-point advantage.

The undefeated Bavarians have now won six of eight league games and are on 20 points as Borussia Moenchengladbach, who beat Hannover 96 3-0 thanks to a Max Kruse double, moved into second spot on 16.

Last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-1 loss against Cologne for a fifth defeat of the campaign that saw them drop to 14th on seven points.

Coach Roberto Di Matteo made a winning debut at Schalke 04, who beat Hertha Berlin 2-0 with goals from Julian Draxler and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

SPAIN La Liga's incredible double act continued with Cristiano Ronaldo adding to his record-breaking scoring start to the season and Lionel Messi homing in on another landmark.

Ronaldo's grabbed his 14th and 15th goals of the campaign in Real Madrid's 5-0 win at Levante, beating the previous best start by Oviedo's Esteban Echevarria, who netted 14 times in the first eight games of the 1943-44 season.

Barca, now the only unbeaten side left in La Liga, remained four points clear of third-placed Real as they beat Eibar 3-0, with Messi scoring his 250th La Liga goal to move within one of Telmo Zarra's milestone of 251, which has stood since 1955.

Sevilla separate the two powerhouses, who meet in the Clasico at the Bernabeu on Saturday, after beating Elche 2-0 with second-half goals from Carlos Bacca and Kevin Gameiro. They are in second place three points adrift of Barcelona.

Deportivo la Coruna moved off the bottom of the table with a 3-0 win that halted Valencia's unbeaten start to the season, while champions Atletico Madrid moved alongside them on 17 points after a 2-0 victory over Espanyol.

ITALY Juventus dropped their first points of the season when they were held 1-1 at lowly Sassuolo, the only team without a win so far this season.

Simone Zaza gave the hosts a shock lead in the 13th minute and Paul Pogba replied six minutes later for Juve, who have 19 points from seven games.

Second-placed AS Roma cut Juventus's lead to one point with a comfortable 3-0 win over Chievo, where Eugenio Corini subsequently became the first coaching victim of the season.

Sampdoria, the only unbeaten team apart from Juve, stayed third with 15 points, although coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was angry that they squandered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Cagliari.

FRANCE Olympique de Marseille improved their winning streak to eight games in Ligue 1 with a 2-0 home win against Toulouse in front of a club record crowd of 61,846 at the Stade Velodrome.

The victory, courtesy of first-half goals from Nicolas Nkoulou and Andre-Pierre Gignac, restored Marseille's lead over champions Paris St Germain to seven points after PSG's 3-1 win over bottom club Lens on Friday.

That game was marred by PSG striker Edinson Cavani's sending off after a bizarre gun celebration following his goal.

Girondins de Bordeaux are third, alongside PSG on 18 points, after being held 1-1 by strugglers Caen.

Tempers flared in Nice when local fans tried to clash with Bastia players after invading the pitch following the Corsican side's 1-0 win, prompting the French League's disciplinary committee to review the incidents.

PORTUGAL Porto suffered their first defeat of the season in all competitions when they were beaten 3-1 at home by Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Cup third round.

Nani was among the Sporting scorers while goalkeeper Rui Patricio saved a Jackson Martinez penalty with his team 2-1 ahead.

Holders Benfica won 3-2 at second tier Sporting Covilha with a hat-trick by Brazilian midfielder Jonas as third tier Santa Maria upset Academico Coimbra with a 1-0 win.

NETHERLANDS PSV Eindhoven forged four points clear in the Eredivisie, with a comfortable 3-0 win over AZ Alkmaar featuring two goals from the highly-rated midfielder Adam Maher against his old club.

Ajax Amsterdam slipped up in their pursuit of PSV, falling behind to a Jesus Corona goal for Twente Enschede before Kolbeinn Sigthorsson salvaged a draw 19 minutes from the end.

Cambuur and Zwolle spurned chances to take advantage of Ajax's slip up and take second place with Cambuur conceding a penalty and an own goal before fighting back for a 2-2 draw at neighbours Heerenveen while Zwolle surprisingly lost 3-2 in the derby with Go Ahead Eagles.

They both have 16 points, one behind Ajax, with Twente, now unbeaten in 14 matches, fifth on 15 points.

Add a Comment