Hat-trick hero Haaland sends Man City top, Leverkusen unbeaten run ends

Erling Haaland fired Manchester City to the top of the Premier League with a second consecutive hat-trick in a 3-1 win at West Ham United on Saturday. The Norwegian put Ipswich to the sword last weekend and followed up with another treble to take his tally to 70 goals in 69 Premier League games since joining City from Borussia Dortmund.

City have started the defense of their title in ominous fashion for those looking to depose Pep Guardiola's men after winning the league for four consecutive seasons. The English champions are the only side so far to win all three of their opening fixtures before an upcoming international break, helped in no small part by Haaland's electric start.

"No words for him. All we can do is make him play better and better and give him as many balls as possible to the box," said Guardiola.

After scoring in the opening weekend win at Chelsea and hitting his 10th City hat-trick against Ipswich, Haaland is now up to a Premier League record seven goals in the first three games of a season.

In Spain, Brazil winger Raphinha scored a hat-trick as Barcelona thrashed Real Valladolid 7-0 to make it four wins from four in La Liga under new coach Hansi Flick. While bitter rivals Real Madrid have stumbled early following the much-trumpeted arrival of Kylian Mbappe, Barcelona are off to a flying start despite their continued financial difficulties.

They are also missing Frenkie de Jong, Gavi and Ronald Araujo but have a maximum 12 points heading into the international break, leaving them seven clear of Madrid who face Real Betis on Sunday.

Barcelona's best start to a La Liga campaign came in 2013-14 when they started the season with eight straight wins, although they were pipped to the title that year by Atletico Madrid.

Atletico snatched a 1-0 victory away to Athletic Bilbao as Angel Correa scored in stoppage time to send Diego Simeone's side up to second, four points adrift of Barcelona.

In Germany, Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first league defeat since May 2023 as a 3-2 loss at home to RB Leipzig snapped their 35-match unbeaten run in the top flight.

In a volatile match which saw visiting coach Marco Rose sent to the stands in the first half, Leverkusen jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Jeremie Frimpong and Alex Grimaldo. But Kevin Kampl scored for Leipzig against the run of play just before half-time and Lois Openda levelled things up early in the second period. Openda scored again with 10 minutes remaining to secure victory for Leipzig against last season's unbeaten league and cup winners.

The loss for Leverkusen ended a run of 43 domestic matches without defeat, a run spanning 463 days. Xabi Alonso's side, who have scored 17 goals in the 88th minute or later during their streak, pushed to keep their record alive, but could not find an equalizer this time.

Earlier on Saturday, a toothless and ill-disciplined Borussia Dortmund were held to a 0-0 draw at Werder Bremen.