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ARGENTINA

Striker Martin Palermo scored four goals, including a hat-trick in the first half-hour, as Boca Juniors hammered Banfield 6-0 away.

The South American champions stayed level on 19 points from nine games with Independiente, who won 3-1 at Colon with two more goals from championship topscorer German Denis.

At the other end of the table, Rosario Central won their first match, beating arch-rivals Newell's Old Boys 1-0 despite having two men sent off.

Palermo, a cult figure with Boca fans, headed them ahead in the seventh minute after Cristian Lucchetti failed to cut out Claudio Morel Rodriguez's cross.

Palmermo added a second from an unmarked position in the 21st minute and converted a penalty to complete his hat-trick six minutes later.

Leandro Gracian added a fourth in the 37th minute.

Boca went further ahead two minutes after the break when Palermo snapped up a rebound and midfielder Pablo Ledesma completed the rout from another penalty in the 80th minute penalty.

Independiente stayed top on goals scored after Denis, a journeyman professional who is suddenly making an impact at the age of 26, took his tally to 11 goals with his brace against Colon.

Defender Carlos Matheu scored Independiente's other goal while Uruguayan defender Guillermo Rodriguez put through his own goal for Colon's reply.

Mercurial midfielder Fernando Belluschi followed up last week's hat-trick against Velez Sarsfied by scoring two brilliant goals in River Plate's 3-1 win over Lanus.

Chilean teenager Alexis Sanchez completed the scoring for Daniel Passarella's team who are third, four points behind the leading pair.

Colombian striker Martin Arzuaga won and converted a 74th- minute penalty as Rosario stunned neighbours Newell's Old Boys.

Central had Gervasio Nunez sent off before halftime for a two-footed lunge and Emiliano Papa dismissed in the 85th minute for throwing an object into the crowd.

Titleholders San Lorenzo ended a run of four straight defeats by beating Tigre 2-1 and Osvaldo Ardiles enjoyed his first win as coach of Huracan as they beat San Martin by the same score.

BRAZIL

Cruzeiro kept up the pressure on championship leaders Sao Paulo by beating arch-rivals Atletico Mineiro 4-3.

The Belo Horizonte derby was marred by an ugly brawl near the end after Cruzeiro striker Kerlon performed his trademark dribble in which he runs past opponents bouncing the ball on his head.

Nicknamed the seal dribble, it infuriated Atletico's players who saw it as provocative and defender Coelho was sent off for hacking him down.

Tempers flared and a brawl erupted involving more than a dozen players.

"I don't think he should do that in a derby," Atletico goalscorer Marinho said. "I hope he learns, he could have got hurt."

Cruzeiro are nine points behind Sao Paulo, who beat Santos 2-1 on Saturday.

Striker Roni scored twice for Cruzeiro in the first 24 minutes, the second from a penalty awarded for a foul on Maicosuel which appeared to take place outside the area.

Atletico were level before halftime thanks to goals from Gerson and Marinho and went ahead early in the second half when Marinho converted another controversial penalty.

Cruzeiro hit back with two goals from substitute Guilherme to take the points.

Champions Sao Paulo, who have 57 points from 26 games, overcame Santos with goals early in the second half from right back Breno and striker Borges.

The only dampener came in stoppage-time when Rodrigo Tabata pulled one back for Santos to stop Sao Paulo keeping their 10th successive clean sheet.

Santos stayed third but Vanderlei Luxemburgo's team are 15 points adrift of Sao Paulo.

In other matches, Gremio won the Porto Alegre derby against Internacional 1-0 with an early headed goal by Leo while Flamengo and Vasco da Gama drew 1-1 in Rio de Janeiro.

Paulo Bonamigo became the latest coaching victim of the season when he was sacked by Goias after their 3-0 home defeat by Nautico on Saturday.

Uruguayan Beto Acosta scored the first two goals for Nautico, following up his four-goal performance against Botafogo the previous week.

MEXICO

Tecos UAG slumped to their second defeat in three games under former Argentina coach Cesar Luis Menotti when they lost 2-0 to Pumas UNAM.

Goals by Ismael Iniguez and Esteban Solari left the Tecos rooted to the bottom of Group One in the Apertura championship with four points from seven games.

Menotti, the chain-smoking coach who led Argentina to World Cup victory in 1978, returned to the touchlines after an absence of more than two years to take charge of the struggling Guadalajara-based team.

Santos Laguna and Atlante remained unbeaten while champions Pachuca lost 2-1 at home to Toluca in other games at the weekend.

Atlante, who have enjoyed a new lease of life since moving from Mexico City to the resort of Cancun, came from two goals behind to beat San Luis 4-3.

Venezuelan striker Giancarlo Maldonado scored twice for Atlante, taking his tally to eight, with Cameroon's Alain Nkong and Argentine Gabriel Pereyra sharing the other goals.

San Luis's goals were all scored by Argentines, two from Alfredo Moreno and one from Eduardo Coudet.

Atlante are second in Group Two with 18 points, two behind Santos Laguna who drew 1-1 at Monterrey.

Toluca, under former Argentina coach Jose Pekerman, top Group One after Uruguayan Vicente Sanchez scored in their 2-1 win at Pachuca, who had Damian Alvarez and coach Enrique Meza sent off.

PORTUGAL

Sporting warmed up for Wednesday's Champions League match at home to Manchester United by beating Estrela Amadora 2-0.

Porto are top with 12 points followed by Maritimo and Sporting on nine each.

Benfica, who beat Naval 3-0 on Saturday, ahead of their Champions League opener at AC Milan on Tuesday, are fourth with eight points from four matches.

Sporting opened the scoring after eight minutes when Brazilian striker Liedson, unmarked inside the box, tapped in a cross from the left by Montenegrin winger Milan Purovic.

His compatriot Simon Vukcevic made sure of the points with their second goal in the 30th minute when Amadora's keeper Nelson failed to catch a cross from the left by defender Abel.

Naval fired coach Francisco Chalo after the defeat to Benfica. Club officials have taken over coaching duties until a successor was found.

Chalo was the third managerial casualty in the top flight this season.

The Figueira da Foz club are third from the bottom of the 16-team standings

with two points from four matches.

On Saturday, Lisandro Lopez gave Porto a 1-0 victory over Maritimo with a far-post header after 56 minutes following a cross from the left by Slovakian defender Marek Cech.

Porto, the only team with a 100 percent record after four league games, host Liverpool on Tuesday in their opening Champions League game.

NETHERLANDS

Canadian Jonathan de Guzman scored twice in the second half to help Feyenoord to a 3-1 victory at Roda JC Kerkrade in the Dutch league on Sunday.

Cheikh Tiote netted a rebound to put Roda in front six minutes before the break. Early in the second half Roy Makaay equalised from the penalty spot, before de Guzman struck twice.

Feyenoord moved back to the top of the table with 12 points after four matches, two above Ajax and PSV Eindhoven who had 1-0 wins on Saturday over Heracles Almelo and Vitesse Arnhem respectively.

Feyenoord will travel to PSV next Sunday.

AZ Alkmaar came from two goals behind to get a point against Sparta Rotterdam.

Midfielder Haris Medunjanin scored an own goal after five minutes to hand Sparta the lead, while Nourdin Boukhari made it 2-0 early in the second half.

Midway through the second half Julian Jenner pulled one back and with 14 minutes remaining Mounir El Hamdaoui struck his first for Alkmaar to earn his side a point.

Alkmaar are sixth with seven points, one behind Twente Enschede who won 3-1 at Willem II Tilburg.

Mohamed Messoudi opened the scoring for Willem II after 25 minutes from the penalty spot after Rydell Poepon missed one earlier, but Blaise N'Kufo and an own goal from Frank Demouge gave Twente a half time lead. Romano Denneboom settled the match in the second half.

Edwin de Graaf struck on the stroke of halftime to register a 1-0 away win for NAC Breda against NEC Nijmegen.

POLAND

Legia Warsaw stretched their perfect start to seven matches with a 3-1 home win over second bottom Widzew Lodz, the leaders moving four points clear of closest rivals Wisla Krakow, who were held to a 2-2 draw at Odra Wodzislaw Slask.

Long range efforts by Takesure Chinyama and Edson da Silva gave Wisla the win after Piotr Kuklis had cancelled out Aleksandar Vukovic's opener for the home side.

Marek Zienczuk fired Wisla ahead in the first half and salvaged a point for the winners of three league titles in the last five years after Odra had turned the match through Jakub Grzegorzewski and Marcin Malinowski.

Champions Zaglebie Lubin fell 10 points behind the leaders after they were held to a 2-2 draw at Ruch Chorzow.

UKRAINE

Leaders Shakhtar Donetsk laboured to a 2-1 win at Chernomorets Odessa to stay three points ahead of Dnipro Dnipropterovsk, who strolled to a 3-0 home victory against Metalist Kharkiv.

A Cristiano Lucarelli penalty and Dmytro Chygrynsky's header gave Shakhtar a 2-0 lead before Oleh Venglinsky set up a dramatic finish with a fine solo effort.

Dnipro took the lead with a Vitaliy Bordiyan own-goal before midfielders Sergiy Nazarenko and Dmytro Lyopa saw the visitors off with second-half strikes.

A 90th-minute goal from midfielder Taras Mikhalik handed champions Dynamo Kiev a 2-1 win at Metalurg Donetsk to keep them in third position, seven points behind Shakhtar.

HUNGARY

Two goals in two minutes gave front-runners Honved a 2-1 win at lowly Siofok to keep them three points clear of champions Debrecen and Fehervar, who both won to maintain the pressure.

Substitutes Norbert Palasthy and Dieng Cheikh Abass struck for Honved midway through the second half after Szabolcs Kanta had fired the hosts ahead.

Goals from Adam Komlosi and Zsombor Kerekes either side of halftime gave Debrecen a 2-0 home win over Vasas Budapest and Fehervar brushed aside Sopron by the same score.

CROATIA

Champions Dinamo Zagreb showed no sign of slowing down after a Bosko Balaban brace and a goal each by Luka Modric and Nikola Pokrivac helped them to a 4-0 win over Slaven Belupo Koprivnica, their eighth victory in as many matches.

Dinamo stayed seven points clear of closest rivals Zadar, who edged NK Zagreb 1-0 courtesy of a Jakov Surac scorcher.

Third-placed Rijeka slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Sibenik, their first loss of the season, thanks to a Frano Vitaic hat-trick.

Dinamo's traditional rivals Hajduk Split stayed fourth, eight points adrift of the leaders, after a 3-1 home win over bottom team Varteks Varazdin.

SERBIA

Partizan Belgrade cruised to a 3-1 win over promoted Napredak Krusevac to extend their lead to seven points after champions and city rivals Red Star continued their unimpressive start with a 0-0 draw at Borac Cacak.

Serbia midfielder Zoran Tosic opened the scoring in the first minute, Senegalese striker Lamine Diarra made it 2-0 shortly afterwards and Djordje Lazic steered in the third to keep Partizan firmly in the driving seat.

Red Star, who have a game in hand, needed a desperate save from keeper Ivan Randjelovic in stoppage time to avoid their first league defeat after another lacklustre performance.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Slavia Prague had their league lead reduced to one point following a 0-0 home draw with third-placed Banik Ostrava, as Teplice moved into second with a 2-1 win over champions Sparta Prague.

Petr Lukas headed Teplice into a 36th minute lead and Czech Under-21 striker Martin Fenin scrambled home a 67th minute winner after Miroslav Slepicka had drawn level for Sparta.

Slovan Liberec, the 2006 champions, remained rooted to the foot of the table with only two points from six games after a 1-1 draw at Viktoria Zizkov.

SLOVAKIA

Surprise package Nitra went three points clear at the top with a 3-0 rout of Ruzomberok after champions Zilina suffered a 4-1 drubbing at fourth-placed Spartak Trnava.

Karol Karlik sent Nitra on their way shortly before the break while Peter Grajciar and Andrej Hesek sealed the win.

Artmedia Bratsilava leapt over Zilina into second position on goal difference after a 3-2 success over bottom side Senec.

BULGARIA

CSKA Sofia won 1-0 at Pirin Blagoevgrad to leapfrog their opposition at the top of the table, thanks to a superb finish from Panama striker Jose Luis Garces, who came on as a second half substitute.

CSKA lead with 13 points from five matches ahead of Pirin on 12 and Lokomotiv Sofia, who have 11 after midfielder Kaloyan Karadjinov scored all four goals in a 4-0 drubbing of mid-table Chernomorets Burgas.

Champions Levski Sofia are three points off the pace after being held to a 0-0 draw at struggling Belasitsa Petrich.

ROMANIA

CFR Cluj went top on 17 points from five matches after two goals from Argentine striker Cristian Fabbiani gave them a 2-0 win at Farul Constanta.

A policewoman was seriously injured and police had to use teargas to break up clashes between fans of Steaua and Rapid on the streets of Bucharest after they played out a 0-0 draw.

Second-placed Rapid are two points behind the leaders while Vaslui, who are a further point adrift, slipped from first to third after a 2-1 defeat at Politehnica Timisoara.

Champions Dinamo Bucharest bounced back from a string of poor results after an Ionel Danciulescu hat-trick in the space of only 12 minutes helped them to a 5-2 win at Politehnica Iasi.

SOUTH AFRICA

South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns won the Super Eight Cup final with a 1-0 triumph over Orlando Pirates thanks to a Brent Carelse goal on Saturday.

Carelse hammered home from close range after 15 minutes for Sundowns, playing their first match since the death of midfielder Gift Leremi in a car accident this month.

Injury-hit Pirates squandered several chances in a flowing match watched by a crowd of about 40,000.

The top eight clubs from the previous season take part in the competition. Sundowns last won it 17 years ago.

Reuters