Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leeds United - Old Trafford, Manchester, UK - August 14, 2021 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes celebrates scoring their fourth goal to complete his hat-trick. (Photo: Reuters)   

Bruno Fernandes scored his first hat-trick in English football in front of a raucous Old Trafford as Manchester United thrashed Leeds United 5-1 to get their Premier League season off to a flying start on Saturday (Aug 14).

French midfielder Paul Pogba also starred with four assists - one more than he managed in the whole of last season in the league - to help United run riot in front of their first full crowd in 17 months.

* Liverpool eased into the new Premier League season as goals by Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah earned them a 3-0 victory at promoted Norwich City on Saturday (Aug 14).

* Chelsea banished last season's problems in front of goal with a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace to start their 2021-22 campaign on Saturday. Goals from Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and a 25-yard screamer by Trevoh Chalobah, on his Premier League debut, represented the second-highest goal haul by the Blues since German coach Thomas Tuchel took over in January.

* Everton rallied from a goal down to beat Southampton 3-1 in the Premier League as new manager Rafa Benitez enjoyed a winning start to his reign at Goodison Park on Saturday (Aug 14).

* Leicester City got their Premier League campaign underway with a 1-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers thanks to a trademark Jamie Vardy goal in the 41st minute at the King Power stadium on Saturday (Aug 14).

* Brighton & Hove Albion forward Neal Maupay and midfielder Alexis Mac Allister scored second-half goals to seal a 2-1 victory over a wasteful Burnley in their feisty Premier League opener at Turf Moor on Saturday (Aug 14).

* Emmanuel Dennis and Cucho Hernandez scored on their debuts as Watford made a winning return to the Premier League by beating Aston Villa 3-2 in their season opener.

* Karim Benzema picked up where he left off last season by scoring twice to fire Real Madrid to a 4-1 win away to Alaves in their opening game of the LaLiga campaign.

* Nice manager Christophe Galtier celebrated a winning return to his former club Lille on Saturday (Aug 14), as they hammered the French Ligue 1 champions 4-0 at Stade Pierre Mauroy for their first victory of the campaign.

* VfL Wolfsburg's top scorer Wout Weghorst drilled in a first-half winner to kick off their Bundesliga season with a nervous 1-0 victory on Saturday (Aug 14) over promoted VfL Bochum, who played almost the entire game with 10 men.

* Primoz Roglic got off the perfect start in his bid to win the Vuelta a Espana for a third consecutive year by winning the individual time trial in Saturday's opening stage in Burgos. The reigning Vuelta champion finished the 7.1km course in eight minutes and 32 seconds, beating Alex Aranburu of Spain by six seconds to take the red jersey and a healthy early lead on his general classification contenders.

* Hebei FC captain Zhang Chengdong has received a five-match ban and a 50,000 yuan (US$7,700) fine from the Chinese Football Association after he kicked Changchun Yatai's Wang Peng in the head in a Chinese Super League match. Zhang kicked Wang in the 92nd minute of Hebei's 3-0 defeat by Changchun Yatai on Monday and was shown a red card for the incident.

* Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who retired from Mixed Martial Arts in October last year, has been signed by third-tier Russian soccer club FC Legion Dynamo. Nurmagomedov announced his retirement following his submission victory over American Justin Gaethje on Oct 24, his first fight following the death of his father Abdulmanap from complications caused by COVID-19.

* Manchester United have completed the signing of centre back Raphael Varane from Real Madrid on a four-year contract, the Premier League club said on Saturday (Aug 14). The two clubs had reached an agreement for the transfer last month, with British media reporting United would pay an initial £34 million (US$47 million) for Varane.

* Jorge Martin grabbed pole position for a second straight week at the Red Bull Ring as he smashed a nine-minute old lap record in the dying seconds of Saturday's (Aug 14) Austrian Grand Prix qualifying.

Source: Reuters