IT WAS Cup weekend in Germany and Switzerland, which gave some of the bigger guns an opportunity to sharpen up their shooting ability. In the DFB Pokal, Kaiserslautern won 7-0 at RSV Eintracht and Wolfsburg hit nine at Hemelingen. The usual practice in Germany is for the smaller clubs to host the top sides and while this might create some huge scorelines, it allows the small fry make some money and benefit from the goodwill of their more celebrated rivals. In Switzerland, the idea is similar but two Super League teams, Lugano and Thun were left red-faced as they tumbled out of the cup at the hands of third tier SC Cham and Brietenrain respectively. St. Gallen were merciless at Walenstadt, who play in the seventh tier. They won 13-0 with 22-year-old Senegal-born striker Aliou Baldé netting a hat-trick in a six-minute spell.
**Premier League: Sunderland stun the Hammers**
DESPITE being big spenders in the close season, Sunderland are tipped by many to go straight back to the Championship but they opened the season in fine style, beating a poor West Ham side 3-0 with goals from Eliezer Mayande, Dan Ballard and Wilson Isidor. The Hammers collapsed in the second half after making a promising start to the game. Liverpool began their defence of the title with a 4-2 win against Bournemouth, who came back from two-down but lost to two late goals. New-look Manchester City won 4-0 at Wolves with summer signings Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki getting on the scoresheet with Erling Haaland adding a brace. A goalkeeping error by Manchester United’s Altay Bayindir allowed Riccardo Calafiori the chance to give Arsenal a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in front of the weekend’s biggest crowd. United fielded their three forward signings, but they failed to retrieve the situation. Arsenal’s new striker, Viktor Gyökeres, was substituted on the hour after an unimpressive debut. Chelsea huffed and puffed at Stamford Bridge against Crystal Palace but a competitive London derby ended 0-0. Evergreen Chris Wood scored twice for Nottingham Forest against Brentford in a 3-1 win, while the Bees’ old boss, Thomas Frank, had a decent start to his new role at Spurs with Richarlison scoring twice in a 3-0 victory against Burnley.
**Ligue 1: Mixed fortunes for the Parisian clubs**
PARIS FC made their bow in Ligue 1 at Angers and were rather unlucky to lose by a single goal scored in the ninth minute by Esteban Lepaul. Paris enjoyed 68% of possession and had 17 shots on goal but Angers – who had a man sent-off – held on to gain the three points. Paris, who play in the shadow of PSG, open their home programme with the visit of Marseille next weekend. PSG, meanwhile, fielded a much-changed line-up from their Super Cup clash with Tottenham, leaving out Dembélé, Hakimi, Doué and Kvaratskhelia for the trip to Nantes. They came away with a 1-0 win, thanks to Vitinha’s 67th minute goal. Newly-promoted Metz were beaten 1-0 at home by Strasbourg, while Ligue 2 champions in 2024-25, Lorient lost by the same scoreline at Auxerre. Olivier Giroud was on target for Lille as they drew 3-3 at Brest, while former Spurs man, Eric Dier netted on his Ligue 1 debut for Monaco as they beat Le Havre 3-1.
**La Liga: Champions start with a win**
MARCUS RASHFORD made his Barcelona debut as a 69th minute substitute as Barcelona began the season with a 3-0 win at Mallorca. Barca, who were without Robert Lewandowski, went ahead through Raphinha and strengthened their lead through Ferran Torres as a defender lay injured in the area. Mallorca lost Manu Morlanes to a red card and Barca tied things up in added time when Lamine Yamal scored their third goal. Atlético Madrid were beaten 2-1 at Espanyol despite leading until the 73rd minute with a Julián Alvarez goal. The home side scored twice in the final 17 minutes through Miguel Rubio and Pere Milla. Athletic Bilbao were 2-0 up against Sevilla, but the visitors levelled the scores before scored the winner through Robert Navarro nine minutes from the end. Rayo Vallecano started the season well by going in at half-time 3-0 ahead at Girona with goals from Jorge de Frutos, Álvaro García and Isi Palazón, finally winning 3-1 against 10 men.
**Portugal: Who needs Gyökeres?**
SPORTING, champions for the past two years, continued their good start to the season with a 6-0 win against Arouca. Despite losing Viktor Gyökeres to Arsenal, Sporting went goal-happy in their first home game. New € 25 million signing Luis Suárez from Almería scored twice along with Francisco Trincão and Ricardo Mangas, who was making his full debut. Sporting have scored eight goals in their first two games, with four different scorers. Benfica won 1-0 at Estrela, who put on a spirited performance and had chances to win the game. The goal came on the hour after Franjo Invanovic was brought down in the area and Vangelis Pavlidis netted from the penalty spot. Porto were 2-0 winners at Gil Vicente with goals from Pepê and Victor Froholdt.
**Hungary: Fradi beaten at home**
LAST season’s top tour in the Hungarian top flight, Ferencváros and Puskás Akádémia FC met in Budapest, drawing a crowd of almost 11,000 at the Groupama. Dániel Lukács gave the visitors a 20th minute lead, but Cadu levelled for Fradi four minutes later. Although they dominated for long periods, Lukács scored the winner in the 71st minute for Puskás. There was a staggering scoreline in the Hungarian capital as ETO Györ won 7-2 at MTK with six different scorers, recording their first league win of the season. They had drawn their three previous games. MTK lost a man to a red card midway through the second half.
**And elsewhere …**
* In the Eredivisie, PSV won 2-0 at Twente, Feyenoord were 2-1 winners at fellow Rotterdam side Excelsior. Ajax had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Go Ahead
* Belgian champions Union St-Gilloise win 3-0 against Standard Liege, both Bruges sides win, Anderlecht beat Dender away 2-0
* Austrian champions Sturm Graz bounce back from their home defeat last week with a 3-1 win at Ried.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)