Bellingham delivers as Madrid punish Girona

Girona, Oct. 2: Inspired by Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid showed both steel and class to beat high-flying Girona 3-0 on Saturday and move back top of La Liga.

Girona headed into the weekend as unlikely leaders but champions Barcelona usurped them by beating Sevilla on Friday, with Madrid then deposing their rivals at the league's summit with a solid triumph on Catalan soil.

Joselu and Aurelien Tchouameni's first-half goals were enough to burst Girona's bubble and after that the record 35-time La Liga winners kept the plucky upstarts at arm's length.

The stylish Bellingham netted with 20 minutes remaining to seal Madrid's victory and continue his own sparkling run of goalscoring form.

Madrid defender Nacho was sent off late in the match for an ugly high tackle on Portu, who went off injured.

Madrid lead with 21 points from eight games, a point ahead of Barcelona, who are in turn a point ahead of Girona.

Later on Real Sociedad climbed above rivals Athletic Bilbao, fifth, whom they beat 3-0 in San Sebastian.

Martinez hits four 

Lautaro Martinez scored all four goals as Inter Milan thrashed Salernitana 4-0 on Saturday to stay top in Serie A, while AC Milan kept pace with their city rivals after overcoming Lazio.

Inter rebounded from their first loss of the season midweek against Sassuolo thanks to a sensational second-half display from Martinez.

The Argentina striker dinked Marcus Thuram's superb ball over home goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to break the deadlock just past the hour.

Salernitana's Mateusz Legowski had a goal disallowed for offside before Martinez drilled in his second from a cross from Nicolo Barella.

Martinez completed his hat-trick on 85 minutes after from the penalty spot Thuram was bundled to the ground. He added another with a first-time finish from Carlos Augusto's pass.

Inter are level on 18 points with Milan, who had briefly gone top earlier in the day after they overcame a struggling Lazio 2-0. Lazio suffered their fourth defeat of the season and dropped to 14th place, with just seven points from as many matches.

Napoli secured their second victory in four days as Victor Osimhen came off the bench and scored in a 4-0 win at Lecce, bumping the Italian champions up to third. Napoli remain four points adrift of Inter and Milan.

City shocked by Wolves

Manchester City's perfect start to the Premier League season came undone in a shock 2-1 loss to Wolves, but Liverpool missed the chance to go top as they were reduced to nine men in a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.

Manchester United slumped to another damaging defeat as Crystal Palace won 1-0 at Old Trafford, while Arsenal moved to within one point of the top after cruising to a 4-0 win at Bournemouth.

City had won the opening six games of their title defence as they aim to become the first side to ever claim four consecutive English top-flight titles.

By contrast, Wolves had taken just four points from their first six games, but stunned the champions at Molineux. 

Ruben Dias' own goal put the home side in front only for City to respond through Julian Alvarez's free-kick.

Wolves, though, were a constant threat on the counter-attack and got their reward when Hwang Hee-chan swept home at the second attempt 25 minutes from time.

Ollie Watkins bagged a hat-trick as Aston Villa thrashed Brighton 6-1. Luton secured their first ever Premier League win with a 2-1 victory at Everton.

Bayern snatch draw 

Bayern Munich came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at RB Leipzig on Saturday as Harry Kane kick-started a second-half revival to prevent a first league loss of the season.

Leipzig were 2-0 up and cruising at half-time thanks to goals from Lois Openda and Castello Lukeba, but Kane converted a penalty early in the second half to give his side hope.

The goal, Kane's eighth in six league appearances since moving from Tottenham, had the desired effect, spurring Bayern on and Leroy Sane equalised shortly afterwards.

Bayern slipped to third, two points behind unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen.  (AFP)