First silverware of the season for Arsene Wenger's Arsenal FC, beating Manchester City 3-0 in the FA Community Shield (English Super Cup). Zenit, Spartak Moskva and CSKA lead in Russia, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine while in Romania the top two are Dinamo Bucharest and FC Petrolul Ploieşti.
Chempionat Rossii - Russian Premier League
Three teams lead the Russian Premier League, with all six points from their first two games - FC Zenit (Saint Petersburg) and Moscow teams FC Spartak Moskva and PFC CSKA Moskva. On Saturday Zenit put eight goals past Torpedo Moskva until Aydov pulled back the goal of honor from the penalty spot. Dzyuba scored two for Spartak Moskva against Dinamo in Khimki, after Kokorin, who scored a hat-trick in last week's 7-3 drubbing of Rostov, scored on 3'.
Premier League (England)
Matches begin next week
FA Community Shield Arsenal 3 Manchester City 0
Goals from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey in the first half, followed by the third, a rocket from 25 metres, after the break from Olivier Giroud started a promising season for Arsene Wenger's Gunners and raises questions as to the preparation of Manuel Pelligrini's Manchester City.
La Liga (Spain)
Matches start on August 23
Bundesliga (Germany)
Matches start August 22/23
Ligue 1 (France)
Six winners in the opening game of Ligue 1 in France, with SM Caen topping the table after winning 3-0 at Évian. Olympique Lyonnais beat Rennes 2-0, AS Saint-Étienne won 2-0 at Guingamp, OGC Nice beat Toulouse 3-2, FC Girondins de Bordeaux won 1-0 at Montpellier and Nantes beat Lens 1-0. Paris Saint-Germain, last season's champions, were held to a 2-2 draw away at Reims, with Ibrahimovic getting a brace.
Serie A (Italy)
Matches start August 30
Primeira Liga (Portugal)
Matches start August 15/16
Premer Liga (Ukraine) After 3 matches
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and FC Shakhtar Donetsk set the pace in the Ukrainian Premier League with three wins out of three games, followed by FC Dinamo Kyiv (7 points). As Dnipro thrashed Karpaty 4-0 (goals from Bruno Gama, Shakhov (2) and Kalinić, all in the second half), Rakitskiy made the difference in Shakhtar Donetsk's game against Metalist, scoring after 52', while Dinamo Kyiv was held at home to a goalless draw by FC Olimpik Donetsk.
In Romania, two teams lead with seven points from the first three games in Liga 1 - FC Dinamo Bucharest and FC Petrolul Ploieşti. Dinamo Bucureşti won 2-0 at Universitatea Cluj-Napoca, while Petrolul beat Botoşani 4-1. In Armenia, Alashkert tops the table after a 0-0 draw at Mika.MKT Araz leads after the first match in the Azerbaijan Premier League (Topaz Premyer Liqası).
In the Belarusian Premier League, the matches start this week.
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Pravda.Ru
(timothy.hinchey@gmail.com)