Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all served notice of their title intentions with crushing wins as the Premier League enjoyed a return to its familiar format on Saturday.

With full-capacity crowds back for the first time since March 2020, Manchester United got things going in the early kickoff with a 5-1 hammering of Leeds United as Bruno Fernandes netted a hat-trick and Paul Pogba made four assists.

Chelsea then outclassed Crystal Palace 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in one of five 3 p.m. kickoffs before Liverpool, with key defender Virgil van Dijk back after a nine-month absence, eased to a 3-0 win at promoted Norwich City.

Leicester City began with a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers with the ever reliable Jamie Vardy on target while Watford marked their return to the top flight with an impressive 3-2 win over Aston Villa as Emmanuel Dennis and Cucho Hernandez both scored on their debuts. Brighton and Hove Albion won 2-1 at Burnley.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland scored twice and set up another three goals as the hosts steamrolled past Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2 to put down a marker in their Bundesliga opener.

Their five-star performance comes a day after champions Bayern Munich kicked off their league campaign with a 1-1 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach, and was a perfect Bundesliga debut for coach Marco Rose on the Dortmund bench.

Dortmund face Bayern in Tuesday's German Super Cup.

In France, Lionel Messi watched on from the stands as Paris Saint Germain made hard work of beating Strasbourg 4-2 in Ligue 1 to continue their winning start to the new season.

Not yet fully fit, Messi, along with Neymar and fellow new recruits Gianluigi Donnarumma and Sergio Ramos, did not make the match squad, but saw his new club take an early lead through Mauro Icardi at Parc des Princes.

Kylian Mbappe then doubled PSG's advantage in the 25th minute after his shot was deflected home, before the France international's cross was turned in by Julian Draxler two minutes later to put the hosts 3-0 up.

However, second-half goals from Kevin Gameiro and Ludovic Ajorque got the visitors back into the contest, with PSG looking uneasy in possession.

Alexander Djiku's dismissal for two bookable offenses let PSG off the hook nine minutes from time, with substitute Pablo Sarabia tapping home at the back post in the 86th minute to make sure of the unconvincing victory for Mauricio Pochettino's side.

The win sent PSG top of the table with two wins from two, while last season's champions Lille were surprisingly thrashed 4-0 at home by Nice earlier on Saturday.