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Monday Sep 23, 2024
Tuesday, 9 December 2014 00:25 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season ended with a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday but no-one can get the better of Bayern Munich, who marched on in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Spain
Lionel Messi scored yet another hat-trick and surpassed 400club goals as Barcelona came from behind to win the Catalan derby 5-1 against Espanyol in La Liga.
The Argentine, who holds the La Liga and Champions League scoring records, produced a familiar devastating performance to take his record to 402 goals for Barca in all competitions, including 28 in friendlies.
Messi produced his tour de force a day after Cristiano Ronaldo, his rival for title of world’s best player, scored a La Liga record 23rd hat-trick in league leaders Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Celta Vigo at the Bernabeu.
European champions Real extended their club record winning streak to 18 matches in all competitions, staying two points clear of Barca while champions Atletico Madrid are a further two behind after their 2-0 victory at Elche.
England
The Premier League race was given a new complexion after Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the season ended with a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday and led to champions Manchester City closing the gap at the top to just three points.
Papiss Cisse struck twice for Newcastle to stun Chelsea, who had been unbeaten for 23 matches in all competitions under Jose Mourinho, before City took full advantage of the slip with Yaya Toure’s penalty earning a 1-0 home victory over Everton.
City’s delight, though, was tempered by bad news regarding the league’s top scorer Sergio Aguero, who was left close to tears after suffering knee ligament trouble -- another in a long list of injury setbacks - which will keep him out of their Champions’ League group decider against Roma.
Arsenal’s hopes of a third successive win were dashed by a 3-2 defeat at Stoke City, after trailing 3-0 at halftime, while West Ham went third with a headed double from rejuvenated Andy Carroll helping them to a 3-1 win over Swansea.
Germany
Bayern Munich’s relentless progress towards a third successive Bundesliga title continued when they beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 to maintain their 100 percent home record in the Bundesliga.
Frank Ribery scored the only goal to leave unbeaten Bayern with 36 points from 14 games, seven ahead of VfL Wolfsburg who won 3-1 at Hanover 96 with goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Bas Dost and Maximilian Arnold.
Surprise package Augsburg moved into third by beating Cologne 2-1, their fourth win on the trot. Borussia Dortmund, runners-up in the previous two seasons, moved off the bottom with a 1-0 win at home to Hoffenheim.
