Manchester United’s new-look attack looked impressive once again only for its suspect defense to collapse in spectacular style in a 5-3 loss to newly-promoted Leicester in the Premier League.
The day after Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat trick helped Real Madrid thrash Deportivo La Coruna 8-2 away from home, Barcelona cruised to a 5-0 win at Levante despite a rare penalty miss from Lionel Messi, who seems to prefer setting up goals these days especially for Neymar.
Paris Saint-Germain failed to bounce back from a tepid 1-1 midweek draw away to Ajax in the Champions League as it drew 1-1 at home to Lyon to slip three points behind the league leader Marseille.
Premier League
Frank Lampard scored a late equaliser against his former club Chelsea to earn 10-man Manchester City a 1-1 draw in the Premier League and end the leaders’ winning start to the season.
Lampard, released by Chelsea this summer after scoring a club-record 211 goals in 13 years, refused to celebrate after his side-footed shot deflected in off John Terry in the 85th minute.
“I’m a bit lost for words I didn’t expect to score like that,” Lampard said. “I’m a bit stuck in the middle.”
Chelsea dropped points for the first time in five games but still holds a three-point lead over Southampton and is five clear of defending champion City.
Man United, which has won just one league game so far under new manager Louis van Gaal, led 3-1 before newly-promoted Leicester scored four times in 20 minutes to secure a stunning 5-3 win.
Robin van Persie, Angel Di Maria and fellow new signing Ander Herrera all scored to illustrate United’s attacking verve, but Van Gaal has deep concerns over the balance of his team.
“We have too many players who want to seek for the goal,” he said.
La Liga
Messi shrugged off his penalty miss and another injury to Neymar by scoring one goal and setting up two more as Barcelona stayed top of the Spanish league with a perfect record after four games.
Messi has played a direct part in nine of Barcelona’s 12 goals in its five wins across all competitions, scoring three and assisting on six more.
Messi is one-of-a-kind. He doesn’t just dribble and score goals, he also assists like he did today.
Neymar went off early in the second half with a left ankle injury, although he did not appear seriously hurt.
The win moved Barca two points ahead of Sevilla, which won 3-1 at Cordoba to remain undefeated. Colombia striker Carlos Bacca scored twice.
Defending champion Atletico Madrid trails Barcelona by four points with Real Madrid another two points adrift.
Villarreal roared back from a two-goal deficit to beat Rayo Vallecano 4-2, while Almeria held on for a 2-1 win at Real Sociedad.
Serie A
Alessandro Florenzi set up one goal then scored another as Roma pulled level with Juventus atop Serie A with a 2-0 win over Cagliari.
Florenzi provided the cross for Mattia Destro’s opener 10 minutes in at the Stadio Olimpico then took a pass from Gervinho two minutes later and scored with an angled shot.
“He’ll pay a fine but he’s happy to,” Roma coach Rudi Garcia said. “This is the beautiful side of football.”
Roma and Juventus, which won 1-0 at AC Milan on Saturday, are the only clubs to win their opening three matches.
After beating Sassuolo 7-0 last weekend, Inter Milan was held to a 1-1 draw at Palermo.
Udinese edged Napoli 1-0 with a goal from Danilo midway through the second half.
Also, Fiorentina won 1-0 at Atalanta with a goal from substitute Jasmin Kurtic, while Parma beat Chievo Verona 3-2 with two goals from former Italy forward Antonio Cassano.
Bundesliga
Ricardo Rodriguez scored two goals and set up another as Wolfsburg defeated 10-man Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 in the Bundesliga for its first win of the season.
The Swiss defender opened the scoring with a penalty in the eighth minute. Josip Drmic equalised with his first goal for Leverkusen in the 29th, before Vieirinha restored the lead with a header from Rodriguez’ cross before the interval.
Rodriguez added a well-struck volley in the 63rd, before substitute Aaron Hunt definitely sealed the win.
Cologne and Borussia Moenchengladbach played out a 0-0 draw in a bad-tempered Rhineland derby later.
Ligue 1
PSG extended its poor start to the season with a fourth draw in six matches as the two-time defending champion was held 1-1 at home by Lyon to drop three points behind bitter rival and league leader Marseille.
Star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to score for the third match in a row, although Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani netted his second in two games. But PSG was left clinging on at the end after Samuel Umtiti leveled in the 84th.
Midfielder Fabien Lemoine scored a late winner as Saint-Etienne won 1-0 at Lens to move level on 13 points with Bordeaux and Marseille after six rounds.
Earlier, Lille missed the chance to go top after failing to break Montpellier’s defence in a 0-0 draw.
Monaco, meanwhile, climbed away from the relegation zone after a scrappy 1-0 home win against Guingamp.
