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RUSSIA

Zenit St Petersburg beat Krylya Sovietov Samara 3-1 at the weekend to close in on Russian Premier League leaders Spartak Moscow.

Rubin Kazan overwhelmed Spartak 3-1 to hand the Muscovites their first defeat in nine league outings and the first since Stanislav Cherchesov replaced Vladimir Fedotov as coach over two months ago.

Roman Adamov notched a hat-trick to lead FK Moscow to a 3-1 victory over FK Khimki and into third place with 36 points. They leapfrogged Dynamo Moscow, who went down 4-1 at lowly Spartak Nalchik to drop from third to fifth on 33 points.

Champions CSKA Moscow routed bottom club Rostov 4-0 to keep alive their slim hopes of retaining the title. Striker Jo scored a double while fellow Brazilian Vagner Love and Serbian midfielder Milos Krasic added a goal apiece, keeping the army club in fourth spot, eight points off the pace.

HOLLAND

Ajax came back from a goal down to beat Heerenveen 4-1 in the Dutch league on Sunday.

Ajax are top with six points after two matches, joined by Feyenoord, who thrashed NAC Breda 5-0, and PSV Eindhoven and Vitesse Arnhem who had wins on Saturday over NEC Nijmegen and AZ Alkmaar respectively.

Twente Enschede were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Utrecht, while Graafschap Doetinchem enjoyed a 2-0 win at Groningen to recover from their 8-1 home defeat last week against Ajax.

PORTUGAL

A blunder by Sporting's Serbian goalkeeper Vladim Stojkovic cost the Lisbon side a 1-0 defeat at Champions Porto who went top of Portuguese Premier League on Sunday.

Porto and unfancied Maritimo, who beat Boavista 2-0 away, are the only teams to have earned the full six points from their two matches in the league so far.

On Saturday, promoted Guimaraes spoiled Spaniard Jose Antonio Camacho's first match in his second spell as Benfica coach by holding the Lisbon side to a 0-0 draw.

UKRAINE

Shakhtar Donetsk beat Tavria Simferopol 2-0 with a Cristiano Lucarelli double to go top on goal difference after Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk were held to a surprise 0-0 home draw by Zakarpattya Uzhgorod.

The Italy striker opened the scoring with a 24th-minute penalty and headed home the second after good work by Serbian midfielder Zvonimir Vukic.

Champions Dynamo Kiev stayed seven points adrift of Shakhtar in fourth position after Guinea striker Ismael Bangoura scored his fourth goal in two matches to secure a 1-0 victory at Kryvbas Kriviy Rih.

POLAND

Legia Warsaw crushed promoted Zaglebie Sosnowiec 5-0 to stretch their perfect start to five matches and go two points clear at the top after Wisla Krakow were held to a 0-0 draw at last season's runners-up Belchatow.

New signings Piotr Giza and Kamil Grosicki scored their first goals for Legia and Inaki Ventura, Roger Guerreiro and Takesure Chinyama completed the rout.

Champions Zaglebie Lubin stayed joint third with Lech Poznan, five points behind the leaders, after strolling to a 3-1 win at Odra Wodzislaw.

CROATIA

Title holders Dynamo Zagreb beat Medjimurje Cakovec 3-1 at home to claim their sixth win in a row and remain four points ahead of Rijeka, who edged Slaven Belupo Koprivnica 1-0.

Croatia under-21 striker Mario Mandzukic capped an excellent individual performance with a goal and an assist as Dinamo warmed up for their Champions League third qualifying round return leg against Werder Bremen.

Rijeka leapfrogged Slaven into second position after Radomir Djalovic volleyed home a Nino Bule cross early in the match.

HUNGARY

Honved retained the leadership by the skin of their teeth after a late piledriver by Zoltan Hercegfalvi clinched a 2-2 draw at second bottom Diosgyor.

The 20-year-old striker headed Honved into an early lead before the home side turned the match round through Istvan Sipeki and Attila Simon.

Champions Debrecen went level on points with Honved after a 4-0 rout of Kaposvar.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Slavia Prague defeated Brno 1-0 to maintain their 100 percent record after four matches and stay two points ahead of champions Sparta Prague, who were 4-1 winners at Viktoria Zizkov.

Stanislav Vlcek turned in a 77th minute cross by Frantisek Drzidal to keep Slavia in the driving seat and boost their confidence ahead of Wednesday's Champions League third qualifying round return leg against Ajax Amsterdam.

Penalties by Pavel Horvat and Libor Dosek coupled with fine efforts from Karol Kisel and Martin Abraham enabled Sparta to leapfrog Banik Ostrava and Teplice, who have a game in hand.

SLOVAKIA

Nitra continued their dream start after a 1-0 home win over third-placed Artmedia Bratislava kept them three points clear of champions and closest rivals MSK Zilina.

Tomas Janicek headed home an 85th minute cross by Erik Hrncar to give Nitra their sixth win in seven matches.

A clinical finish and a volley from Ivan Lietava either side of Mario Breska's goal helped Zilina to a 3-1 win at struggling Dukla Banska Bystrica.

SERBIA

Front-runners Partizan Belgrade made it three wins out of three with a 4-2 home victory over Banat Zrenjanin to go two points clear of city rivals OFK who were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Vojvodina Novi Sad.

Senegalese striker Lamine Diarra scored his first league goal for Partizan after the visitors had taken the lead. Stevan Jovetic, Djordje Lazic and Portuguese midfielder Moreira struck in an entertaining second half.

BULGARIA

Promoted Pirin Blagoevgrad stayed top with a maximum nine points after Herman Pitrodont struck midway through the first half to secure a 1-0 home win over Botev Plovdiv.

Champions Levski Sofia are three points off the pace after a 2-1 defeat at Litex Lovech, Fabien Boudarene grabbing a stoppage time winner after Macedonian Darko Taseski had cancelled out Ivelin Popov's first-minute opener for the home side.

ROMANIA

Politehnica Stiinta Timisoara striker Ionel Ganea was sent off after grabbing an assistant by the throat during a first division match against Rapid Bucharest on Sunday.

Linesman Dorin Buzura told the referee about a Ganea foul which would have led to a second yellow card and a sending off in the 70th minute of the game.

Ganea first shouted at the assistant then appeared to try to throttle him for several seconds before three team mates managed to prise Ganea's hands from the assistant's neck and remove him. Four policemen escorted a furious Ganea off the pitch. The match finished 1-1.

ARGENTINA

River Plate's misery continued as they lost 1-0 at San Martin in the Argentine championship on Sunday while champions Boca Juniors overcame nine-man Gimnasia-La Plata with a controversial late penalty.

The defeat left River Plate 18th in the 20-team Apertura championship, Daniel Passarella's team having taken only two points from their opening three games.

Boca went up to seventh in the table, which is led by Independiente who beat Argentinos Juniors on Saturday.

MEXICO

Defending champions Pachuca lost their perfect record in the Mexican Apertura championship with a 1-0 home defeat to Santos Laguna in the weekend's games.

Uruguayan striker Rodrigo Lopez notched a hat-trick for America in their 4-1 win over Tecos UAG while Paraguay striker Salvador Cabanas added the fourth.

The Tecos are bottom of Group One with one point from four games and 11 goals conceded.

Toluca, led by Argentina's 2006 World Cup coach Jose Pekerman, won for the second game in a row as they came from behind to beat San Luis 2-1.

BRAZIL

Corinthians sacked coach Paulo Cesar Carpegiani immediately after losing 3-0 at home to Cruzeiro while two other matches ended in refereeing rows in the Brazilian championship at the weekend.

Cruzeiro stayed second with 38 points from 20 games while Corinthians, one of Brazil's most popular clubs, dropped to a modest 14th.

World club champions Internacional won 1-0 at Atletico Paranaense after an 89th-minute penalty awarded for a foul on Wellington which television replays suggested happened outside the area. Alex converted.

Gremio's late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Fluminense caused an even bigger storm as Marcel appeared to knock the ball out of goalkeeper Fernando Henrique's arms before Patricio tapped it into an empty net.

Leaders Sao Paulo stayed six points clear of Cruzeiro by thrashing Nautico 5-0, all the goals coming in the second half when the visitors were down to 10 men after Acosta was sent off.

TUNISIA

Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Cabral has been named the new coach of Tunisian giants Esperance.

He is the fourth coach for the club in the last three months and will take charge of his first game on Sunday when Esperance play Al Hilal of Sudan in the African Champions League. Esperance have already been eliminated from the competition.

The 62-year-old 'Cabralzinho' won the African Champions League in 2002 with Egyptian club Zamalek. He has also coached in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Reuters