Highlights

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United's season got underway with a shock 3-1 defeat by Crystal Palace as Wilfried Zaha grabbed a late brace for the visitors in the Premier League on Saturday although VAR was once again the centre of attention over a re-taken penalty. 

United looked off the pace early on as Andros Townsend put Palace in front after seven minutes, with the home side's campaign starting a week later than initially scheduled due to last season's Europa League commitments running into mid-August.

LEEDS — Newly-promoted Leeds United continued their barnstorming return to the Premier League as they claimed their first points with a thrilling 4-3 win over Fulham at Elland Road on Saturday.

After a 4-3 loss to champions Liverpool on the opening day, Leeds, back in the top flight after a 16-year absence, produced more vibrant attacking football along with defensive jitters.

Helda Costa gave them a flying start only for Aleksandar Mitrovic's penalty to level for Fulham before Mateusz Klich restored their lead also with a spot kick before halftime.

LIVERPOOL, England — Colombian playmaker James Rodriguez scored his first Premier League goal and Dominic Calvert-Lewin bagged a hat-trick as Everton thrashed 10-man West Bromwich Albion 5-2 at Goodison Park on Saturday.

West Brom started brightly and opened the scoring through Grady Diangana, but when Calvert-Lewin equalised following an intervention from the Video Assistant Referee, Everton took control.

They scored five goals in 35 minutes as West Brom capitulated following a needless red card for defender Kieran Gibbs.

Preseason results don’t matter, especially so when you’re FC Barcelona playing against third- and second- division sides, but Barça has followed up Saturday’s 3-1 win over Gimnàstic with a 3-1 victory over Girona on Wednesday.

Borussia Dortmund’s 2020-21 campaign began in earnest today with a DFB-Pokal first round match against third division side MSV Duisburg. Dortmund fielded a strong starting 11, but there was also room for a pair of teenagers in Giovanni Reyna and Jude Bellingham (both 17).

Dortmund got things started in the 14th-minute with Jadon Sancho converting from the penalty spot, and then Bellingham marked his competitive Dortmund debut with a goal following an excellent backheel from Thorgan Hazard.

After scoring 17 goals across all competitions during his first season with Wolves — including 13 in the Premier League — many wondered if Raúl Jiménez would experience a sophomore slump last year as defenders came to grips with the Mexican striker.

That certainly wasn’t the case as Jiménez scored 27, including 17 in the EPL and 10 during his side’s run to the Europa League quarterfinals. What’s more, he outlined his overall contribution to the side by providing 10 assists across all competitions.   

It’s been almost four years since the LaMia Flight 2933 disaster which claimed the lives of 77 people, including 19 Chapecoense players. Of the three surviving players, two are still directly involved with the club.

I will admit it — I tend to get so caught up in the Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna hype-train that I sometimes overlook the other talented members on the USMNT. Well, New Zealand-born American winger Tyler Boyd just gave me the antidote with a magnificent goal for Besiktas. I will be googling “Tyler Boyd goal vs Trabzonspor” for some time to come.

Sit back, relax and watch an American give one of Turkey’s biggest clubs something to cheer about in its season opener.

Between August 12 and 23 in Lisbon, Portugal, Paris Saint-Germain changed the narrative surrounding the club by advancing to the Champions League final and performing admirably against Bayern Munich.

In the space of four days coinciding with the club’s start to the 2020-21 season, you could say that PSG has reverted to an even lesser version of its old self.

Brest defeated Dijon 2-0 in Ligue 1 action on Sunday after Romain Perraud opened the scoring in the 42nd minute before Irvin Cardona added the insurance goal in the fifth-minute of second half stoppage time.

“Insurance goal” is one way to frame it. Another is a gravity-defying piece of exceptionalism that only belongs in the Shaolin Soccer film.