Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick and Real Madrid rattled in four goals before halftime in a 5-1 Primera Liga rout of Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu on Saturday.
The prolific Portugal forward took his tally for the season to an unmatched 16 goals from 13 games in La Liga, adding to his top scorer status in the Champions League where he has eight from four games.
Karim Benzema and Sami Khedira added the others as Carlo Ancelotti’s men climbed on to 31 points in third place, two behind city rivals Atletico Madrid, who visit promoted Villarreal on Sunday.
Unbeaten leaders Barcelona have 34 points and visit struggling Real Betis in Sunday’s late game.
Ancelotti appears to have settled on a striking trio of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, a frontline dubbed ‘The BBC’ in the local media, and their devastating pace tore apart the Basque visitors in the first half.
Italy
Fernando Llorente, the Juventus striker, believes the team must be at their very best on Monday night against Napoli if they are to maintain their 100 per cent home league record.
Like Juve, Napoli have enjoyed a strong start to the campaign, both domestically and internationally.
Both sides have each won nine games and lost just once and are only three points behind Serie A leaders Roma after 11 games.
“Napoli is a club of a very high level,” Llorente said. “They are doing really well and we will have to hand a superb performance to come out winners.
“We have won all of our games at home and the fans will give us a big boost as always.
“This game means a lot, even though there are still many games left to play in the season.
“I believe these points could be crucial for the campaign.”
The two teams go into the match after midweek Uefa Champions League games.
Napoli will be without midfielder Giandomenico Mesto, who hurt his knee in last weekend’s 2-1 triumph over Catania and will be sidelined for four months.
Llorente, who came on as a second-half substitute in Sunday’s 1-0 triumph at Parma, is expected to partner Carlos Tevez in Juve’s attack.
Antonio Conte’s men will have to keep a close eye on Napoli’s front-line.
Marek Hamsik, Jose Maria Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain have scored 17 of Napoli’s 24 goals in Serie A.
Germany
European champions Bayern Munich set a new record for the longest unbeaten run in Bundesliga history with a 3-0 victory at home to Augsburg on Saturday.
Bayern have now gone 37 league matches since their last defeat, at Bayer Leverkusen in October 2012, breaking Hamburg’s previous record of 36 set in January, 1983.
Head coach Pep Guardiola also set a personal record as he celebrated his 12th league match without defeat – the best start by a new Bundesliga coach in the league’s history with 32 points.
The Champions League holders opened the scoring at Munich’s Allianz Arena when Germany centre-back Jerome Boateng headed home from a corner after just five minutes.
France winger Franck Ribery then smashed home a direct free-kick on 42 minutes before Germany’s Thomas Mueller netted a penalty in the fifth minute of injury time.
Bayern, who now have 31 wins in their last 37 Bundesliga matches, were without Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger, who will miss the forthcoming internationals against Italy and England with an ankle injury.
It was Bayern’s second milestone of the week after they equalled Barcelona’s record from the 2002/03 season of nine consecutive Champions League wins with a 1-0 at Viktoria Pilsen.
Breaking records is nothing remarkable for Bayern these days having set or equalled 25 league records under Guardiola’s predecessor Jupp Heynckes last season.
More importantly, Bayern extended their lead at the top of the table to four points as second-placed Borussia Dortmund went down 2-1 at VfL Wolfsburg.
It was Dortmund’s second defeat of the week after losing to 1-0 at home to Arsenal in the Champions League.
After Germany winger Marco Reus put Dortmund ahead with a thunderbolt of a free kick on the stroke of half-time, Wolves hit back to pick up their fourth straight victory to leave them fourth.
Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez smashed home a free kick before Croatia striker Ivica Olic hit a great goal in off the far post with 20 minutes left.
Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen are level with Dortmund on 28 points after beating Hamburg 5-3 with South Korea’s star striker Son Heung-Min scoring a hat-trick.
France
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a treble as Paris Saint-Germain beat Nice 3-1 to move five points clear at the top of the French Ligue 1.
Ibrahimovic scored in the 39th, 57th (penalty) and 75th minutes to take his tally to eight league goals. PSG are the only French club still undefeated this season.
On Friday, Monaco drew 1-1 with Evian.
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