Manchester United took over at the top of the Premier League while Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi could be out for up to two months with a knee injury and rampant Bayern Munich extended their perfect start to seven league wins.
Following is a round-up of weekend action in the main European leagues:
ENGLAND
Manchester United replaced neighbours Manchester City at the top of the Premier League by comfortably beating Sunderland 3-0 after City slumped to a 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
England captain Wayne Rooney scored his first league goal of the season, in between those by Memphis Depay and Juan Mata.
West Ham United are third after drawing 2-2 with visiting Norwich City, level on 13 points with Arsenal for whom Alexis Sanchez scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 win at unbeaten Leicester.
But champions Chelsea are in the bottom six after scraping a 2-2 draw at struggling Newcastle United thanks to late goals by Brazilian pair Ramires and Willian.
SPAIN
Villarreal are surprise La Liga leaders after Leo Baptistao gave them a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid and a toothless Real Madrid were held 0-0 at home to Malaga.
Luis Suarez hit a double for Barcelona who beat Las Palmas 2-1 but the win came at a cost with Lionel Messi going off early with a knee injury. He is expected to be out for two months.
Villarreal are unbeaten after six matches and top the table with 16 points, Barca are a point behind and Real are two back.
Celta Vigo who thumped the Catalans 4-1 last Wednesday, were held 1-1 at Eibar and are fourth behind Real on goal difference.
GERMANY
Champions Bayern Munich made it seven wins in seven Bundesliga games with Robert Lewandowski scoring twice in a 3-0 win at Mainz 05 to extend their lead at the top to four points.
Lewandowski, who netted five times in their midweek win over Vfl Wolfsburg, became the first foreign player to require just 168 matches to score 100 goals in the Bundesliga as Bayern increased their advantage over second-placed Borussia Dortmund.
Dortmund's forward, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck twice to become the first player to score in the first seven matches of a Bundesliga season but a 90th minute equaliser from captain Aytac Sulu gave Darmstadt 98 an unexpected 2-2 draw.
ITALY
Fiorentina cruised to a 4-1 victory at 10-man Inter Milan helped by a Nicola Kalinic hat-trick as they leapfrogged their opponents to top Serie A.
Third-placed Torino won an ill-tempered clash 2-1 against visiting Palermo as they finished with nine men.
AC Milan had a man sent off as they lost 1-0 at Genoa for their third loss of the season.
Fiore and Inter have 15 points from six games while Torino are on 13, with struggling champions Juventus losing further ground down in 15th place after losing again.
FRANCE
Paris St Germain recovered from a terrible first half to win 4-1 at Nantes and stretch their Ligue 1 lead to four points.
Goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani and Serge Aurier put the champions on 20 points from eight games.
St Etienne remain second despite a 4-1 home defeat to Nice, who were led by an impressive Hatem Ben Arfa.
Olympique de Marseille slumped to a 2-1 loss against visitors Angers and Olympique Lyonnais lost 3-1 at Girondins de Bordeaux on a bad weekend for the big guns.
