By IAN HOLLIDAY
Just one match into his tenure at Inter Milan, Claudio Ranieri has already done something his predecessor Gian Piero Gasperini was unable to do: win.
Inter got two goals in the last nine minutes of its match at Bologna to pull out a 3-1 win. The visitors had taken the lead through Giampaolo Pazzini in the 39th minute before surrendering an equalizer on a penalty kick in the 66th. The deciding goal for Inter came on a penalty of its own, which Diego Milito drew on a foul that saw Archimede Morleo sent off. Milito converted the penalty in the 81st and Lucio added an insurance goal in the 87th.
Elsewhere this weekend, Manchester United's perfect start to the season ended with a 1-1 draw at Stoke.
The Red Devils were without Wayne Rooney to start the match and lost Javier Hernandez early, but were able to take an early lead through Nani in the 27th minute. Stoke drew level in the 52nd, however, on Peter Crouch's first goal for his new club. The result reduces United's lead over derby rivals Man City to goal differential. The two clubs are level on points after City defeated Everton 2-0 on Saturday.
The German giants have won their last nine matches across all competitions and haven't allowed a goal since their Bundesliga opener on Aug. 7. The club kept rolling Saturday with an easy 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
In Spain, both Barcelona and Real Madrid won big over the weekend. After a recent slump, the Merengues responded with a six-goal outburst, including a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo, to win 6-2. Victory was never in doubt for Barca, which saw Lionel Messi score a hat-trick and force an own-goal in a 5-0 drubbing of Atletico Madrid.
Here is a rundown of all the weekend scores from Europe's top leagues:
ENGLAND
Chelsea recovered from its 3-1 loss at Man United last weekend to easily dispatch Swansea City 4-1 and stay three points off the pace in the Premier League. Behind the Blues in fourth place is Newcastle United, which has quietly started the season undefeated, with three wins and three draws from its six games. Time will tell if the Magpies can make a case to stay in fourth place and return to the champions league for the first time since the 2003-04 season, but if nothing else, Arsenal's slump leaves no clear frontrunner for the berth.
Queens Park Rangers 1, Aston Villa 1
Manchester City 2, Everton 0
Arsenal 3, Bolton 0
Chelsea 4, Swansea City 1
Liverpool 2, Wolverhampton Wanderers 1
Newcastle United 3, Blackburn 1
West Bromwich Albion 0, Fulham 0
Wigan Athletic 1, Tottenham 2
Stoke City 1, Manchester United 1
Monday: Norwich City v. Sunderland
SPAIN
Few people doubt that the La Liga title race will ultimately be contested between Barcelona and Real Madrid, but for now, at least, neither club can lay claim to the top spot in the table. That honor, for the moment, belongs to Real Betis, which has a perfect record through four matches. Last year's Segunda Division champs are coming of a 4-3 midweek defeat of Real Zaragoza in which on-loan striker Roque Santa Cruz scored a brace. The club plays its fifth-round La Liga match Monday night at Getafe. A win would give it a four-point lead over Barcelona and a five-point lead over Real Madrid, the latter of which it will visit on Oct. 16.
Mallorca 2, Real Sociedad 1
Levante 3, Espanyol 1
Granada 1, Osasuna 1
Sporting Gijon 0, Racing Santander 0
Real Zaragoza 0, Malaga 0
Athletic Bilbao 1, Villarreal 1
Sevilla FC 1, Valencia 0
Real Madrid 6, Rayo Vallecano 2
Barcelona 5, Atletico Madrid 0
Monday: Getafe v. Real Betis
ITALY
Through four rounds of the Serie A season, no one club has asserted itself as a dominant force. None of the league's clubs is perfect, and only one, Atalanta, has more than two wins. Atalanta is 3-0-1 (W-L-T), which would be good for 10 points and first place, but the club had six points deducted from its total at the beginning of the season as a result of a match-fixing investigation. The top spot is held, instead, by Juventus, which has two wins and two draws from its first four matches. Juve is one of only three clubs in Serie A with an undefeated record. The other two are second-placed Udinese and the aforementioned Atalanta.
Chievo Verona 2, Genoa 1
Atalanta 2, Novara 1
Cagliari 0, Udinese 0
Catania 1, Juventus 1
Lazio 0, Palermo 0
Siena 3, Lecce 0
Parma 0, AS Roma 1
Bologna 1, Inter Milan 3
AC Milan 1, Cesena 0
Napoli 0, Fiorentina 0
GERMANY
While Bayern's terrific run of form has given the club a plus-20 goal differential, it hasn't put much separation between the club and its closest competitors. Second-placed Werder Bremen and third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach are each on 16 points, just two behind Bayern's 18. Neither club has been as impressive as Bayern, but both continue to grind out wins. Bremen defeated Hertha Berlin 2-1 on Sunday, while 'Gladbach disposed of Nurnberg 1-0.
FC Cologne 2, Hoffenheim 0
Werder Bremen 2, Hertha Berlin 1
Borussia Moenchengladbach 1, Nurnberg 0
FC Augsburg 0, Hannover 96 0
Mainz 1, Borussia Dortmund 2
Schalke 04 4, SC Freiburg 2
VfL Wolfsburg 1, Kaiserslautern 0
Bayern Munich 3, Bayer Leverkusen 0
VfB Stuttgart 1, Hamburg 2
FRANCE
Only two clubs, AS Nancy Lorraine and Montpellier, failed to get on the scoresheet in France this weekend, with every other club managing at least a goal for their efforts. The clubs in question find themselves on the opposite ends of the Ligue 1 table after eight rounds. Montpellier is in fourth, but only one point behind clubs one through three, while Nancy is dead last, still winless and stuck on just four points. Lyon is in first, having dispatched Bordeaux 3-1 on Saturday, and the clubs that defeated Montpellier and Nancy, Paris St. Germain and Toulouse, are second and third, respectively.
AJ Auxerre 4, Sochaux 1
Brest 1, AC Ajaccio 1
Stade Rennes 1, St. Etienne 1
Evian Thonon Gaillard 2, Caen 4
Lille 1, Lorient 1
Lyon 3, Bordeaux 1
Nice 1, Dijon FCO 1
Toulouse 1, AS Nancy Lorraine 0
Valenciennes 1, Marseille 1
Montpellier 0, Paris St. Germain 3
What did you think of this week's results? Think Bayern can keep its streak(s) alive against Man City on Tuesday? Think Inter will turn it around with Ranieri in charge?
