Real Madrid return to winning ways
An early Federico Valverde strike helped Real Madrid to a 2-0 home win against Villarreal in LaLiga on Saturday as Carlo Ancelotti's men returned to winning ways after two games without a victory.
Real took the lead in the 14th minute with a stunning long-range shot by Valverde following a Luka Modric corner, before Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr sealed the win in the 73rd with an unstoppable strike into the top corner from outside the box.
The defending champions were in need of a positive performance after losing 1-0 at Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday and being held to a 1-1 stalemate at Atletico Madrid in their previous LaLiga game.
Real, second in the standings, provisionally moved level with Barcelona on 21 points before the LaLiga leaders visit 11th-placed Alaves on Sunday.
Villarreal, who have made a strong start to their league campaign with five wins from nine games, are third with 17 points.
The visitors started brightly and Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin had to intervene eight minutes into the game to block a dangerous cross from Nicolas Pepe.
Valverde, however, earned an early advantage for the hosts when captain Modric set up the Uruguayan midfielder from a corner, and the ball bounced off a Villarreal defender and into the net.
Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe had further chances ahead of the break before the pace slowed down following the restart.
Villarreal, without their injured top scorer Ayoze Perez who has six goals this season, were close to equalising shortly after the break when Alex Baena threatened Lunin's goal but only found the side netting.
Villarreal's defence managed to keep Vinicius at bay when the Brazilian grew into the game in the latter part of the first half.
However, the 24-year-old forward eventually found the net later in the second, scoring his fourth league goal of the season.
Real have avoided defeat in their last 41 LaLiga games, the second best streak by a team in the competition's history after Barcelona's run of 43 games unbeaten in 2018.
Villarreal managed 12 attempts in total, one more than the hosts but they still came away with nothing.
Champions Leverkusen waste two-goal lead
Champions Bayer Leverkusen scored twice in the opening eight minutes but squandered their lead to settle for a 2-2 draw against visitors Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Last season's domestic league and Cup winners have only themselves to blame for the slip-up having dominated in a largely one-sided first half where they should have scored more goals and put the game to bed.
Instead Leverkusen, winners 1-0 over AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, eased off and despite having a total 24 efforts towards goal compared to their opponents' eight, Kiel proved more efficient after the break to snatch an unexpected point.
Victor Boniface gave Leverkusen the perfect start, slotting in after four minutes to put the hosts in front with his fourth league goal of the campaign.
Before promoted Kiel had any time to recover, Leverkusen struck again, this time with Jonas Hofmann's low drive, to carve out a two-goal cushion following a mistake by goalkeeper Timon Weiner.
Leverkusen looked to be cruising to a comfortable win, having nine shots by the ninth minute with their opponents desperately scrambling to hang on.
Kiel did, however, recover toward the end of the first half with a goal on the stroke of halftime through Max Geschwill's shoulder at the far post.
They then drew level thanks to Fiete Arp's 69th minute penalty. Leverkusen drop to fifth in the standings on 11 points. Bayer Munich, top on 13, face Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Thuram hat-trick gives Inter win over 10-man Torino
A hat-trick from Marcus Thuram gave Inter Milan a 3-2 victory over 10-man Torino at home in their Serie A clash on Saturday, following an early red card for visiting defender Guillermo Maripan.
Inter are second in the league standings with 14 points, two behind Napoli. Torino are sixth with 11 points.
The breakthrough came in the 25th minute when Inter capitalised on Maripan's dismissal, with Thuram heading in from close range five minutes after the defender was sent off for a late challenge on the French forward.
Thuram doubled Inter's lead in the 35th minute with another header from close range. However, Torino pulled one back a minute later, with Duvan Zapata taking advantage of a defensive error to finish from inside the box.
Thuram completed his hat-trick on the hour mark, being in the right place to tap in a rebound after Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had saved a header.
The drama continued as Torino forward Nikola Vlasic converted a penalty four minutes from time after Hakan Calhanoglu had tripped Adam Masina in the area. However, the visitors were unable to mount a final push to find an equaliser.
Torino suffered a further setback when Zapata was carried off on a stretcher with a suspected knee injury, with the Colombian visibly in pain.
Thuram, who is the joint top scorer in the league this season with seven goals, said Inter cannot afford to keep on leaking in goals.
"It's also the fault of the attackers, not just the defenders or the goalkeeper. We are eleven (players) on the pitch and not conceding goals is part of everyone's job. We will try to improve in the upcoming games," he said.
"There’s a lot of work, especially in the penalty area. For me, scoring is always a great feeling, but I always want to remain a player who helps the team above all."
Mateo Retegui also scored a hat-trick for Atalanta earlier on Saturday in their 5-1 home victory against Genoa.
Dortmund slump to loss at Union
Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-1 loss at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Saturday, only days after their 7-1 demolition of Celtic for their biggest European win.
Nuri Sahin's team had none of the aggression that earned them their record European win and despite pulling a goal back midway through the second half they struggled to create clear scoring chances.
"We had a weak start and apart from a few actions the entire first half was weak," coach Sahin, in his first season at Dortmund, said.
"At this level and in this stadium you need to be present from the start. If not you let in goals like the ones we let in. That cannot happen."
The defeat meant Dortmund dropped to seventh place in the standings on 10 points.
"Just before kickoff we made it clear what to expect here but we still gifted them the entire first half," Sahin said.
Union's Kevin Vogt ended a 10-year Bundesliga goal drought after converting a 26th-minute penalty. Vogt's previous goal was scored on October 18, 2014, making it a record 275 Bundesliga matches between goals for an outfield player.
Dortmund were largely toothless up front, with Germany forward Karim Adeyemi, who scored a hat-trick against Celtic, out injured along with fellow forwards Julien Duranville and Gio Reyna.
They conceded another with Yorbe Vertessen's low strike from the edge of the box on the stroke of halftime.
Dortmund defender Julian Ryerson pulled a goal back for the visitors just past the hour but they could not find an equaliser despite late pressure.
