Sevilla's Champions League qualifier was postponed until Monday due to Antonio Puerta's untimely death, but they paid homage to the young midfielder with a 1-4 victory over AEK Athens. Luis Fabiano scored two, including one from the penalty spot, and Keita and Kerzhakov were also on the scoreboard as the Andalusians qualified for the competition for the first time. Juande Ramos's side were unable to retain the European Super Cup title a few days earlier though, Renato's early goal not enough to prevent AC Milan from beating them 3-1. Valencia are also through to the league stage of the Champions League, Helguera and Villa getting the goals in a comfortable 1-2 win over Elfsborg, and Atlético qualified for the UEFA Cup after beating Vojvodina by the same scoreline.

Back to the league at the weekend though, and Real Madrid are the early leaders after a convincing 0-5 win at Villarreal. Sneijder got two to head up La Liga's Pichichi table, and Raúl was also on target. Elsewhere Ronaldinho notched up a brace for Barcelona and Luis García did likewise for their neighbours Espanyol, and Negredo, Güiza, Sinama-Pongolle, Morientes and Oliveira all got their second goals of the season. (03.09.07)