Title favourites Manchester United and Arsenal share the top spot in the English Premier League after two weeks while Bayern Munich moved into a first-place tie in the German Bundesliga on Sunday.
Striker Ruud van Nistelrooy scored in his 10th straight league game to equal a record as the defending champion Red Devils rallied to beat Newcastle 2-1 for their second win in a row.
In 1987, Liverpool’s John Aldridge scored in 10 straight games in the old division one.
Paul Scholes also scored for United and former England captain Alan Shearer had given the Magpies an earlier lead.
Manchester United has 17 wins and three draws in the league since last December.
Arsenal, which finished second last season, got a pair of goals from Sylvain Wiltord in a 4-0 romp at Middlesbrough. Thierry Henry and Gilberto Silva also hit the target.
Claudio Pizarro and Giovane Elber scored a goal each as Bayern moved into a three-way tie for the lead in Germany after beating Hamburger SV 2-0. Defending champion Bayern has won a record 17 Bundesliga titles.
Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart also have 10 points from four matches.
The Spanish and Italian leagues start next weekend.
England
Free-spending Chelsea, which beat Leicester 2-1, is also perfect after two matches in the Premier League. Adrian Mutu scored the winner from 18m.
Lilian Nalis’ own-goal gave Chelsea the lead in the second minute, though James Scowcroft equalized in the 39th minute.
Also, newly promoted Portsmouth is undefeated after drawing 1-1 at Manchester City while Liverpool laboured to a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa.
Portsmouth, which beat Villa last week, spoiled City’s home opener at the new City of Manchester Stadium. Yakubu Ayegbini scored in the 23rd minute and David Sommeil equalised late in injury time.
Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all have six points after two matches.
Germany
Werder Bremen thrashed Schalke 4-1 while Stuttgart also stayed at the top with an impressive 2-0 victory against Kaiserslautern on a weekend when the Bundesliga celebrated its 40th birthday.
Stuttgart’s players — still the league’s youngest unit — charged up and down the field as usual with the attack that made them Bundesliga runners-up last season. The club was rewarded with header goals off corners by Cacau and Zvonimir Saldo.
The Netherlands
Mateja Kezman scored two goals as PSV Eindhoven thrashed Willem II Tilburg 6-1 in the Dutch Premier League while Ajax topped RBC Roosendaal 1-0 and Feyenoord Rotterdam lost at SC Heerenveen 1-0.
Kezman, last year’s league-leading scorer, has four goals in two matches this season. He scored both last week in a season-opening 2-2 draw with Roda JC Kerkrade.
Tom Soetaers scored for Ajax while Gerald Sibon got the winner for Heerenveen.
Ajax, Heerenveen and RKC Waalwijk lead the league with six points each while PSV has four.
Scotland
Defending champion Rangers twice came from behind and scored three second-half goals to beat Hibernian 5-2. Michael Mols scored twice for Rangers.
Alan Thompson’s penalty late in the first half gave runner-up Celtic a narrow 2-1 win over Partick Thistle.
Rangers improved to 3-0 — the only team with maximum points — and have now scored a league-best 12 goals. Celtic and Dunfermline follow with seven points each.
Greece
Defending champion Olympiakos and crosstown rivals Panathinaikos and AEK Athens each won their opening matches in the Greek league.
All three teams are participating in this season’s Champions League.
Olympiakos got goals from Giorgos Georgiadis and Pandelis Kaffes to beat PAOK 2-0, Panathinaikos needed a late strike from Pandelis Konstantinidis to top Xanthi 1-0 and AEK Athens downed Aegaleo 1-0 on a Yiannakis Okkas goal.
France
Lille maintained its lead in the French league despite a 1-1 draw at Metz as Vladimir Manchev netted a right-footed blast. Pape Thiaw scored for Metz in the second minute.
Nantes, which beat Le Mans 1-0, is second along with Monaco and Marseille. Monaco beat Paris Saint-Germain 4-2 while Marseille topped Sochaux 2-0.
Lille leads the league with 10 points from four matches, followed by Nantes, Monaco and Marseille with nine each and Nice with eight.
Portugal
Sporting leads the Portuguese league after its second win in two matches while Benfica rebounded from an opening draw and defending champion FC Porto was held 1-1 by newly promoted Amadora.
Tonito scored two goals and Fabio Rochemback added another as Sporting opened its new Jose Alvalade stadium with a 4-2 win over Belenenses.
Benfica, last season’s runner-up, rebounded from an opening draw to beat Vitoria Guimaraes 2-0. Zlatko Zahovic and Feher Argel scored for Benfica.
Sporting and Maritimo lead the league with six points each.
Porto and Benfica are next with four each. — Sapa-AP