Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe both struck from the penalty spot to earn Real Madrid a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday.

The Spanish champions moved within a point of leaders Barcelona who face last season’s surprise package Girona on Sunday.

Real Sociedad hit the woodwork on three occasions before Madrid’s second half spot-kicks earned them three points from an end-to-end clash at the Reale Arena.

“It was a tough game, probably we didn’t deserve to win because Real Sociedad played very well… but we bore it out, we suffered, we were committed in the tough moments of the game and I value that a lot,” said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“This sacrifice and commitment from a team with such quality, you cannot always find – and today we found it.”

The Italian was without injured midfielders Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni, and benched Rodrygo Goes for Brahim Diaz.

After Mbappe netted twice to score his first La Liga goals in his previous outing, all eyes were on the French forward.

The former Paris Saint-Germain striker forced Real Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro into a smart save and had a surging run forward cut short by some last-ditch defending.

Real Sociedad hit the woodwork for the first of three occasions when new arrival Luka Sucic slammed an effort from distance against the bar.

Ancelotti brought on Rodrygo after Diaz suffered an injury and the champions came close through Antonio Rudiger’s header, clawed out by Remiro, and an Mbappe effort across the face of goal.

At the other end Real Sociedad forward Sheraldo Becker struck the bar when played in.

Penalties ‘count too’

Sucic fired a low strike against the post early in the second half as the Basque side lacked luck in front of goal and Madrid inevitably capitalised.

Vinicius fired home from the spot in the 58th minute after Sergio Gomez handled Arda Guler’s drive and Mbappe soon followed suit.

The French superstar sent Remiro the wrong way from the spot after Jon Aramburu stood on Vinicius’ foot.

Madrid saw the remaining 15 minutes out without stress ahead of their return to Champions League action on Tuesday against Stuttgart.

Mbappe now has three goals in five La Liga matches for Madrid, although two have come from the penalty spot.

“They are linking well, creating a lot of danger,” said goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

“In open play they’re lacking goals a bit, but with them we have a lot of danger up front and we will score a lot of goals.

“Today it was from the penalty spot, but they count too.”

Los Blancos last tasted defeat in La Liga in September 2023, going 37 league matches unbeaten since.

Real Sociedad have just one win from five games this season but Imanol Alguacil’s team played well.

“We had a great first half, we had a lot of chances, the game was alive,” said Real Sociedad’s Igor Zubeldia.

“In the second half we started well but the penalty was a tough blow… we were comfortable, it changed the whole game for us.”

Earlier Sevilla earned their first victory of the season with a tight 1-0 triumph over Getafe and Villarreal moved provisionally third with a 2-1 win at Mallorca.

Kane hat-trick sends Bayern Munich top of the Bundesliga

Bayern Munich maintained their perfect start to the season and jumped to the top of the Bundesliga table after hammering newly-promoted Holstein Kiel 6-1. Jamal Musiala scored the third fastest goal in Bundesliga history, giving Bayern the lead after just 15 seconds.

A mistake by Kiel captain Lewis Holtby opened the door for his former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Harry Kane, who doubled Bayern’s lead seven minutes in.

“There was a difference in class today,” Holtby told Sky Germany afterwards. “It felt like they had an extra man out there, compliment to Bayern on a great performance.”

It went from bad to worse for the hosts, as Musiala took advantage of another defensive error to deliver a cross that was eventually turned into his own net by Nicolai Remberg.

After just 13 minutes Bayern Munich were 3-0 up.

Three years on from their famous victory against Bayern in the second round of the German Cup, Kiel looked starstruck.

Kane scored his second just before the break, before substitute Michael Olise smashed in a rebound shortly after the hour mark.

Armin Gigovic’s header gave the home fans something to cheer about, but Bayern had the last word as Kane dispatched an injury-time penalty to seal his hat-trick and an emphatic Bayern victory.

“There are a lot of positives about our game at the moment,” Manuel Neuer said afterwards. “We have that winning mentality back and we’ve started a run of form now.”

Bayern are two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, but Vincent Kompany’s side now turn their attention to their Champions League campaign which starts with a home game against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.

Leverkusen bounce back

Defending champions Bayer Leverkusen put their first defeat in 35 Bundesliga games behind them on Saturday when they thumped Hoffenheim 4-1 with Victor Boniface bagging a brace.

The win will be a confidence-boost for Xavi Alonso’s men Leverkusen, who start their Champions League campaign next Tuesday in Rotterdam against Feyenoord. Frenchman Martin Terrier scored his first Bundesliga goal to give the visitors a deserved lead, before Boniface danced around defenders to add a second while Mergim Berisha soon pulled one back.

“It comes from a Tiktok trend in Nigeria, who created this dance and he asked me if I could do it after I score,” said Boniface, explaining his goal celebration. But eventually, Leverkusen found a way through.

Florian Wirtz converted a penalty before Boniface added a well-taken second. Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, making his 464th Bundesliga appearance to draw level with German football legend Lothar Matthäus, made a string of saves to keep the home side in the game.

“A good team loses once, but not two, three or four times in a row,” Granit Xhaka said afterwards. – Leipzig held – Despite dominating, Leipzig couldn’t find a way past Union Berlin and had to settle for a point after a 0-0 draw.

With Marco Rose out suspended and Bo Svensson sick, both teams were without their head coaches on the sideline. Xavi Simons hit the bar, and Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow saved a Lois Openda penalty and a David Raum free kick to frustrate the hosts, who couldn’t maintain their perfect start to the season.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt beat Wolfsburg 2-1 as Omar Marmoush came back to haunt his former employer by scoring a goal in each half.

At the third time of asking, Stuttgart got their first win of the season by beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-1 thanks to two goals in four second-half minutes from Ermedin Demirovic. In-form Germany striker Deniz Undav had given Stuttgart the lead in the first half, only for Alassane Plea to equalize for the hosts.

A brace from Junior Adamu helped Freiburg to a 2-1 win over Bochum, who had taken the lead with their first goal of the season.

Serie A: Milan start huge week by destroying Venezia as Juventus held at Empoli

AC Milan warmed up for the Champions League and next weekend’s Milan derby in the best possible fashion with Saturday’s 4-0 hammering of Venezia in Serie A, while Juventus stumbled to a goalless draw at Empoli.

Pressure had been building on Milan over the international break after just two points from their first three matches, and thousands of hardcore fans gathered outside the San Siro to show their support ahead of a big week for the seven-time European champions.

Paulo Fonseca’s team responded to that backing by sweeping sorry Venezia aside, racing into a four-goal lead within 29 minutes and cruising through the rest of the match.

Milan are eighth but will face Liverpool on Tuesday night in better spirits following their first win of the season, with a massive clash with champions Inter Milan coming a week on Sunday.

Inter have won the last six derbies, the most recent victory also securing last season’s Scudetto.

“It was important to win, and win in this manner, to give the players belief in what we’re doing,” said Fonseca to Sky.

“This week I’ve been thinking about Liverpool and Inter. I know how important the derby is… I know that we’ve not won the last few derbies, we’re working to hange that.”

Milan were ahead with less than two minutes on the clock when Theo Hernandez forced a low shot through Venezia goalkeeper Jesse Joronen, and the hosts doubled their lead in the 16th minute through Matteo Gabbia, who pushed home Christian Pulisic’s corner.

Venezia already had a mountain to climb but their hopes of getting anything from the match were ended by two soft penalties converted by Pulisic and Tammy Abraham on his full Milan debut.

England international Abraham pounced on a spilled Tijjani Reijnders shot and was clipped by Joronen, allowing Pulisic to roll home Milan’s third in the 22nd minute.

And Abraham completed the rout from the spot after Rafael Leao, who set up Hernandez’s opener, went down when his foot was stood on by Joel Schingtienne.

Francesco Zampano thought he had netted for Venezia in the 72nd minute, but the consolation goal was ruled out for Hans Nicolussi Caviglia clattering into Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s ankle.

Caviglia, whose surname means ankle in Italian, was then sent off for the rash challenge which was his second bookable offence in a matter of minutes, compounding a dreadful evening for rock-bottom Venezia.

Uninspiring Juve

Juve’s stalemate gave them temporary lead of the Italian top flight, one point ahead of Inter Milan, Torino and Udinese who are all yet to play this weekend.

But Thiago Motta’s team underwhelmed in Tuscany, creating almost nothing in a performance that offered little to worry PSV Eindhoven, who visit Turin on Tuesday evening.

Dusan Vlahovic went closest for Juve four minutes after half-time when he shot straight at Devis Vasquez after being sent racing towards goal.

And Juve had Federico Gatti to thank for a goal-saving tackle in the fifth minute of stoppage time which denied Emmanuel Gyasi what would have been a shock winner.

“Let’s put this match behind us and focus on Tuesday. PSV are a good team who play good football, we’ll need to be at our best,” said Motta.

Juventus will take part in the revamped Champions League after a year away from European football following a UEFA ban for financial fair play violations.

Earlier debutant Samuel Iling-Junior saved Bologna ahead of their first ever match in the Champions League with a brilliant late equaliser in their 2-2 draw at Como.

Bologna played one tie in the old European Cup in 1964 and host Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday without a win this season under new coach Vincenzo Italiano.

“We need to be better, we’ve been too sloppy in our first four matches,” Italiano told reporters.

“We’ve not been together for very long and we know where we need to improve.”

Italiano’s team have three points from their first four matches while Como have two after throwing away a great chance to win their first home match in Serie A for 21 years.

Ligue 1: Perfect PSG stay ahead of Marseille and Monaco

Ousmane Dembele scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to beat Brest 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Saturday, extending their perfect start to the French season and keeping them ahead of Marseille and Monaco at the top of the table.

Brest, preparing to make their debut in the Champions League next week, took the lead at the Parc des Princes when Romain Del Castillo converted a penalty on the half-hour mark.

However, Dembele headed in from a Marco Asensio cross to equalise for PSG shortly before half-time, and two goals in two minutes in the second half sealed their fourth win in as many outings so far this season.

Fresh from scoring twice in Spain’s 4-1 win in Switzerland last week, Fabian Ruiz curled in a fine strike to put PSG ahead on 73 minutes, and Dembele followed up to make it 3-1 a minute later after a Randal Kolo Muani effort had been thwarted.

Luis Enrique’s team have now scored 16 goals altogether in four Ligue 1 games since the close-season departure of Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, and are in good shape heading into Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Girona.

“As a coach the objective is always to improve,” Luis Enrique said. “This season so far is the continuation of what we saw at the end of last season.”

Meanwhile, Brest are struggling to follow up on last season’s surprise third-place finish and have lost three of four games so far before meeting Sturm Graz on their European debut.

PSG are two points clear at the top from Marseille and Monaco, who both recorded impressive wins earlier on Saturday.

De Zerbi makes impact

Marseille continued their impressive form under new coach Roberto De Zerbi by beating Nice 2-0 in the Mediterranean derby, despite finishing the match with 10 men.

Mason Greenwood was unable to add to his remarkable tally of five goals in his first three matches in French football, but there was a goal on his home debut for new signing Neal Maupay before a brilliant strike by Luis Henrique sealed the victory.

Marseille had Canadian defender Derek Cornelius sent off late on, but held on for the win which moved them to 10 points from four matches.

“We have had an almost perfect start. I wasn’t too pleased with how we played today, but football is not just about quality. It is also about character, and blood, and in that sense we were excellent,” said De Zerbi.

The game at the Velodrome was watched by a crowd of more than 65,000 and there was a celebratory atmosphere as Marseille wore a collectors’ edition shirt to mark their 125th birthday and fans set off fireworks late on, bringing the game to a brief halt.

“In such passionate cities, you need a strong link between fans and players, otherwise you can’t do anything,” De Zerbi said when asked about the raucous atmosphere.

Those supporters will be beginning to believe their team can push PSG in the title race.

“Just as the fans have dreams, so do we, but there is also the reality. We have made so many changes in a short time and we still have huge margin for improvement,” De Zerbi added about his new-look side.

Monaco kick off their Champions League bid at home to Barcelona next Thursday and warmed up for that with 3-0 victory away at newly-promoted Auxerre.

Thilo Kehrer headed in an early opener from a corner and Brazilian full-back Vanderson made it 2-0 before Denis Zakaria sealed the win late on for the principality side.