• Promoted Málaga slump to 4-0 defeat at the Bernabéu

• Como defeat Napoli; Jones makes Inter debut in win

Real Madrid maintained their perfect start to the season in La Liga with a comfortable 4-0 home ⁠win over promoted Málaga on Sunday, scoring three times inside 30 minutes before adding a late fourth.

Jude Bellingham’s brilliant solo opener, an own ⁠goal by the Málaga goalkeeper, ⁠Alfonso Herrero, and ​a sharp Kylian Mbappé volley in effect settled the contest before half-time, with the substitute Arda Guler wrapping up the victory in added time at ⁠the Bernabéu.

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© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Manchester United’s attack may be their best form of defence this season

• Messi nets four goals, adds assist in 7-1 Miami win

• Dejan Joveljić scores twice on Sounders debut

• Minnesota United score three times in four minutes

Inter Miami interim coach Guillermo Hoyos ran out of superlatives for Lionel Messi after the ⁠Argentine playmaker scored four goals in a Major League Soccer match for the first time in his career to ⁠inspire a 7-1 thrashing ⁠of CF ​Montreal on Saturday.

Messi’s four-goal haul and an assist came at a crucial time for Miami, helping them snap a ⁠five-game winless run across all competitions.

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© Photograph: Dax Tamargo/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Dax Tamargo/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Dax Tamargo/Shutterstock

To follow the claiming of both the major footballer of the year awards by scoring a hat-trick in Manchester United’s first home game was some Bruno Fernandes act, and points to an intent to continue his stellar form of last season.

Ipswich came to scythe through Michael Carrick’s side via the pace of Julio Enciso, Issa Diop and Daizen Maeda, and when Leif Davis gave them a 29th-minute lead victory looked on. However, the contest turned with Marcelino Núñez’s slip as the break neared. Suddenly Fernandes was rifling in a left-foot bullet and from this point on United cuffed Gary O’Neil’s team aside.

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© Photograph: Dave Thompson/AP

© Photograph: Dave Thompson/AP

© Photograph: Dave Thompson/AP

• England forward’s exit continues busy summer for Villa

• News follows Emiliano Martínez moving to Chelsea

Al-Hilal have signed Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa, ⁠the two clubs announced on Sunday, as the 30-year-old striker ended a successful ⁠six-year spell with ⁠the ​Midlands club where he became their top scorer in the Premier League. The England international, who had ​two years left on ‌his Villa contract, has moved for a reported £51m.

Watkins ‌signed a three-year contract as Al-Hilal acquired ‌a proven goalscorer after he scored 21 goals in all competitions last season, including five goals in the Europa League as he helped deliver a European trophy to Unai Emery’s side.

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© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

Chelsea are great entertainers but possess clear weakness

In the fullness of time Chelsea’s surrender against Brighton in April may be seen as the turning point. The humiliation accelerated Liam ­Rosenior’s demise and forced the Stamford Bridge hierarchy into a ­reckoning leading to the appointment of Xabi Alonso, a shift in ­transfer ­strategy, the birth of the JP Morgan front three and the end of ­Robert Sánchez’s time in goal.

For now, though, the argument that Emiliano Martínez is the final piece in the jigsaw seems a touch ­premature. With seven goals scored and five conceded while winning their first two league games, it is not hard to see where Chelsea need to improve in order to sustain a title challenge. They have to be savvier when ahead, and although the good has so far outweighed the bad Alonso could do with his side not dropping their guard when they have the ­opposition on the ropes.

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© Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

© Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

© Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

At the final whistle Álvaro Arbeloa provided a study in pensiveness while Régis Le Bris simply looked relieved. For protracted periods an almost palpable fear of losing formed the subtext of a match decided when two of the Sunderland manager’s ­second-half substitutes, Habib Diarra and Wilson Isidor, combined for the latter to score.

Isidor’s goal not merely supplied Sunderland with their first win of the season while leaving Arbeloa’s side pointless, but also ended his side’s 17‑year run without a Premier League home victory against Fulham.

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© Photograph: COLORSPORT/BRUCE WHITE/Shutterstock

© Photograph: COLORSPORT/BRUCE WHITE/Shutterstock

© Photograph: COLORSPORT/BRUCE WHITE/Shutterstock

These nascent moments of the new season can often provide false hope but, as both sets of players shook hands after what was indisputably the correct result at Elland Road, it was difficult not to imagine we had just witnessed a contest between two sides that should have lofty ­ambitions for the months ahead.

Leeds and Brentford were vic­torious on the opening weekend in differing circumstances. Leeds crafted a hard-earned but ultimately deserved win at Nottingham Forest, while Brentford Tottenham. Time will tell what the ceiling of both these sides is but, as they each continued their unbeaten starts here, hopes should be high.

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© Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters

© Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters

© Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters

• Premier League updates from the 4.30pm (BST) kick-off

• Live scoreboard | Mail Tim and follow us over on Bluesky

Out come the players, some of them holding babes in arms – including Marcus Rashford, who has a big smile on his face.

The first email of the afternoon comes from Dave. “Hi Tim, loving the MBM.” Thanks! “Just wondered if there’s any insight into why Sesko seems to find it so hard to get a start.”

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© Photograph: Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images

• Striker’s second-half penalty ensures 1-0 win at Aberdeen

• St Mirren 3-3 Motherwell; Celtic 2-0 Falkirk on Saturday

Lawrence Shankland’s second-half penalty gave Derek McInnes and Rangers some much-needed respite with a 1-0 win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

The tale since the Rangers manager arrived from Hearts in the summer has been one of constant change in formation and personnel amid exits from two European competitions and a poor start to the Premiership campaign. The Ibrox side turned in a better performance than many of late and in the 69th minute the captain, Shankland, a former Don, converted a spot-kick won by Djeidi Gassama.

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© Photograph: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock

• Premier League updates from the 2pm (BST) kick-offs

• Live scoreboard | Mail John and follow us on Bluesky

Mark Slater gets in touch: “I will be following the Chelsea vs Brighton match particulary, but am happy to see a Joy Division quote in the opening paragraphs. In Chelsea’s case, Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester City, and Aston Villa most recently...”

Tom: “A+++ for getting Joy Division into the Sunday MBM.”

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© Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

• Reaction to Saturday’s action and more football news

• Today’s matches | Results | Tables | And email Emillia

How the table looks after yesterday’s results…

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Hull continued their winning start against Coventry and Everton clinched a last-minute equaliser against Bournemouth.

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© Composite: Getty Images

© Composite: Getty Images

© Composite: Getty Images

Striker talks life in the UAE, problems with the Azzurri and ‘special feeling’ of playing for Manchester City

Whenever the name Mario Balotelli is brought up, particularly in Italy, the conversation is almost inevitably laced with a sense of regret. There is that lingering “What if?”, a collective sigh over a player who possessed the raw, undeniable potential to be one of the best in the world, if only things had been different.

Yet being in front of him, with a smile on his face, it becomes clear the 36-year-old striker has reached an unexpected level of wisdom and maturity, traits that shine through in his lucid analysis of Italian football’s current struggles and the vanishing street culture of the sport. As Balotelli reflects on what he would tell his adolescent self, there is also a distinct feeling that he has finally made peace with his own turbulent narrative, that he isn’t chasing the ghosts of unfulfilled expectations.

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© Photograph: Marco Ravagli/Future Publishing/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marco Ravagli/Future Publishing/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marco Ravagli/Future Publishing/Getty Images

It might be too early to push the panic button but Roberto De Zerbi faces a huge task if he is to turn Spurs around

Time for Tottenham to start panicking? This is, of course, a subtle trick question. Tottenham is one of those clubs that never actually stops panicking. They panic when they concede and they panic when they score. They panic when they have the ball and they panic when someone else does. They have a coach in Roberto De Zerbi whose face evokes a state of permanent alarm, the expression of a man perpetually having a toilet door opened on him. One year they even managed to panic their way to the Europa League. For the ever-rattled Spurs fan, this club is less a treasured devotion and more a lifelong haunting, broken up by occasional panic substitutions.

You could intuit that sense of encrusted resignation pretty much from the moment Anthony Elanga’s improvised shot kissed the post and trickled over the line to give Newcastle the lead. Since beating Aston Villa 4-1 in late 2024, Tottenham have gone behind 44 times in all competitions and come back to win precisely zero of them. There is something innate and endemic here, a chronic case of Long Tottenham for which – despite the new coach, the new leadership structure and more than a third of a billion pounds in transfer fees – there remains no proven cure. Yoane Wissa’s clincher was of zero surprise to anyone.

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© Photograph: Shaun Brooks/CameraSport/Getty Images

© Photograph: Shaun Brooks/CameraSport/Getty Images

© Photograph: Shaun Brooks/CameraSport/Getty Images

If ever you wanted to understand the distinction between “winning the transfer market” and winning an actual football match, then this was the game for you. Tottenham’s first home fixture of the Premier League season began with adulatory focus on all their new players. It ended in decisive defeat to Newcastle as recruit after recruit failed to make their presence pay, while Newcastle’s forgotten forwards made hay. “Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again,” sang the Toon Army as if it needed pointing out.

Tottenham should have taken the lead in a first half they had the better of, but they had no response to impressive second-half strikes by Anthony Elanga and Yoanne Wissa. What had looked like green shoots of positivity withered to nothing. For a Newcastle team themselves a work in progress under Matthias Jaissle, this was a heartening victory achieved with many of their own additions to come in.

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© Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters

© Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters

© Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters

£380m = zero points: Big-spending Spurs humbled by Newcastle

• Updates from 5.30pm (BST) kickoff

• Email Barry and follow us on Bluesky

Fun fact: Tottenham and Newcastle have met 61 times in the Premier League era without ever playing out a scoreless draw. Today could be the day for a dreary stalemate but it seems unlikely – fingers crossed for a glut of goals.

Premier League: Hull City have made it back-to-back wins upon their return to the top flight, with Liam Millar scoring the only goal of their game at Coventry City to deposit another three precious points in the bank. James Tarkowski left it until added time to cancel out Alex Scott’s opener as Bournemouth were held by Everton at the Vitality Stadium. In today’s early game, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest served up an entertaining 2-2 draw at Anfield, where the hosts had to come from behind twice to rescue a point.

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© Photograph: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock

• Mourinho: Mbappé deserves award for ‘making history’

• ‘The best player in the world is not at PSG or Spain’

José Mourinho has said Kylian Mbappé deserves to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, arguing the award should go to the best player in the world rather than be decided by World Cup or Champions League success.

“The best players in the world, there are two, three or four of them, and we know who they are: they’re here,” the Real Madrid coach said on Saturday before their game against Málaga in La Liga.

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© Photograph: Jose Breton/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Jose Breton/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Jose Breton/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

A malfunctioning electronic board will not have been on anyone’s bingo list of Liverpool complaints for the first Anfield game of Andoni Iraola’s tenure, but others sounded all too familiar. A slow start, a lack of intensity and defensive shortcomings were again evident as Liverpool salvaged a point against Nottingham Forest, while showing stronger foundations are required along with the excitement of £123m Bradley Barcola.

In front of some of the billionaires behind Liverpool, Iraola’s opening act on home soil offered more food for thought than the feast they may have been expecting. Forest were good value for the second 2-2 draw of the new Liverpool head coach’s reign and created enough clear openings to justify their frustration at the final outcome. A superb finish from Liverpool’s summer signing Víctor Muñoz cancelled out Morgan Gibbs-White’s penalty, after Alexander Isak had done the same to Dan Ndoye’s opener.

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© Photograph: Liverpool FC/Getty Images

© Photograph: Liverpool FC/Getty Images

© Photograph: Liverpool FC/Getty Images