European Soccer Round-up: New signing Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid sealed a first league victory of the season with a 4-1 thrashing of Levante yesterday.
The Dutch striker got off the mark in the 17th minute and scored another early in the second half after a neat assist from his former Manchester United colleague David Beckham. He looked to have missed his chance of a hat-trick when he fluffed a penalty after he had been brought down in the area in the 85th minute, but made up for the error with a classy finish in stoppage time.
Levante, managed by former Real Madrid coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, ended with nine men after French defender Frederic Dehu was sent off before the half-hour and midfielder Diego Camacho followed him five minutes from time.
Sevilla, who crushed Levante 4-0 in their opening match, made it two wins out of two with a 3-1 victory at Real Sociedad, while Bernd Schuster's Getafe also maintained their 100 percent record with a 1-0 win at home to Racing Santander.
In Italy, goals by veteran striker Filippo Inzaghi and new signing Ricardo Oliveira gave AC Milan a 2-1 victory over a lively Lazio side.
Both teams were aiming to chip away at the points penalties handed to them in the match-fixing scandal. Milan now lie on minus five, eight points behind title rivals Inter Milan and AS Roma.
Lazio remain on minus 11 but will be encouraged by their lively display at the San Siro and a goal by striker Stephen Makinwa on his league debut.
Juventus's bid to make a speedy return to Serie A got off to a disappointing start when they were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Rimini on Saturday.
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