Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, AS Roma held to draws – The Kampala Report

Premier League champions Manchester City laid down a marker shows they will not give up their crown without a fight by dismissing hard battling Chelsea 2-0 courtesy of goals from Erling Braut Haaland and Mateo Kovacic in new Stamford Bridge manager Enzo Maresca’s debut.

Victory lifted the Cityzens to second on goal difference behind Brighton in the embryonic standings after Fabian Hurzeler’s side brushed aside Everton 3-0 via goals from Kaori Mitoma, Danny Welbeck and Simon Adingra.

Record champions Manchester United briefly bossed the standings when they beat Fulham 1-0 on Friday night in the season opener via new signing Joshua Zirkzee’s late winner. There also victories for last season’s runners up Arsenal who saw off Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 and Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, who underlined their durability by outlasting compatriot Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham United 2-1 thanks to a Jhon Duran strike

Ferland Mendy was sent off as champions Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at Mallorca in Kylian Mbappe Lottin’s first Liga Santander game for Los Blancos. The stalemate left Carlo Ancelotti’s side who beat Atalanta 2-0 to win the Uefa Super Cup last Wednesday two points adrift of perennial rivals Barcelona who triumphed 2-1 at Valencia courtesy of Robert Lewandowski’s double.

Last season’s surprise package Girona held Real Betis to a 1-1 draw at the Estadio Benito Villamarin while Jose Bordalas’ reshaped Getafe battled to an identical score at San Mames against Ernest Valderde’s Athletic Bilbao. Bookmakers third favourites Atletico Madrid are to unleash £81m new signing Julian Alvarez against Villarreal at the Estadio de la Ceramica tonight.

In Italy, both Milan clubs were held to 2-2 draws while four times Scudetto winner Antonio Conte suffered a 0-3 humiliation at Hellas Verona on his Napoli managerial debut. Simone Inzaghi’s champions Inter Milan netted twice through French striker Marcus Thuram only to be pegged back by Genoa while Paulo Fonseca’s AC Milan had to fight back from two goals down to hold Torino thanks to late strikes from summer signing Alvaro Morata and Noah Okafor.

Serie A action continues tonight with record titlists Juventus hosting newly promoted Como in Allianz Stadium boss Thiago Motta’s first game in charge whereas Gian Piero Gasperini’s Europa League winners are away to Lecce four days after they lost the Uefa Super Cup 0-2 to Real Madrid.

Across the Swiss Alps, Bayer Leverkusen won the third trophy of Xabi Alonso’s nascent tenure, the German Super Cup, when they beat Stuttgart 4-3 on penalties after regular time had ended in a 2-2 draw. The Bay Arena Invincibles will be back in action on Friday when they open Bundesliga proceedings away to Gladbach.