European Soccer Round-up: Shock defeat for Real Madrid

LONDON, Sept 12: Champions Chelsea, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyon all continued their impressive starts to the defence of their respective league titles at the weekend.

Chelsea top the Premier league after maintaining their 100 percent record with a fifth straight win, 2-0 against Sunderland, and have yet to concede a goal.

Juventus thrashed Empoli 4-0 away to top the Serie A standings, while Lyon beat Monaco 2-1 to set the early pace in France’s Ligue 1.

Bayern Munich beat Nuremburg 2-1 to equal their own record of 13 consecutive Bundesliga wins and make it four wins out of four this season.

In Spain, champions Barcelona recorded their first win of the season with a 2-0 home defeat of Real Mallorca.

Following is a brief round-up of the main European leagues.

Champions Chelsea notched up their fifth Premier League victory of the season with a routine 2-0 win over bottom club Sunderland as their main title rivals both dropped points.

Second half goals from Geremi and Didier Drogba were enough for Jose Mourinho’s side as Sunderland slipped to a 20th consecutive Premier League defeat.

Arsenal’s stuttering start continued with a 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough, while Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by local rivals City to end their 100 percent record.

Charlton Athletic recorded their fourth successive win, 1-0 at Birmingham City, while European champions Liverpool drew 0-0 at Tottenham Hotspur.

Chelsea have 15 points, three more than Charlton who have a game in hand. The sides meet next week at Charlton. Manchester City have 11 points, with United a point back on 10.

France forward David Trezeguet scored twice to help Juventus romp to a 4-0 win at Empoli and maintain a 100 percent start to the season.

Juve were 3-0 up within 16 minutes thanks to Trezeguet’s opener, compatriot Patrick Vieira’s first goal for the club and a deflected strike from Mauro Camoranesi.

Inter Milan fell to a 3-2 defeat at Palermo and AC Milan beat Siena 3-1 with Andriy Shevchenko and Brazilian Kaka both on target.

Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o struck twice to give the champions their first win of the season 2-0 against Real Mallorca on Sunday.

Two goals in the space of five first-half minutes settled a Barca side who had looked edgy before going in front.

Promoted Celta Vigo are top with six points following Saturday’s shock 3-2 win over Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, with Galician neighbours Deportivo Coruna second on goal difference after their 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid the same day.

Real came from behind to lead 2-1 with goals from Brazilian duo Ronaldo and Julio Baptista, but Antonio Nunez levelled and Uruguayan midfielder Fabian Canobbio wrapped up the points for Celta.

Two goals on his debut from Brazilian striker Fred helped leaders Olympique Lyon stay in control of Ligue 1 with a 2-1 home win over Monaco.

The 21-year-old newcomer, playing his first match since joining from Brazilian side Cruzeiro last month, opened the scoring for the champions from close range on six minutes.

He doubled Lyon’s advantage with a superb header five minutes into the second half.

Lyon, chasing an unprecedented fifth successive title, stay three points clear of second-placed Paris St Germain, who beat Racing Strasbourg 1-0 courtesy of a first-half goal by Ivory Coast midfielder Bonaventure Kalou.

Bayern Munich beat Bavarian rivals Nuremberg 2-1 on Saturday with goals from Paolo Guerrero and Michael Ballack to equal their own record of 13 consecutive Bundesliga wins.

French Ligue 1

Sochaux 0 Olympique Marseille 1

Racing Lens 1 Girondins Bordeaux 1

Toulouse 0 Le Mans 2

Stade Rennes 3 Auxerre 1

Ajaccio 1 AS Nancy 0

Paris St Germain 1 Racing Strasbourg 0

ES Troyes AC 1 Nantes 0

Nice 0 St Etienne 1

Metz 0 Lille 2

Olympique Lyon 2 Monaco 1

Serie A