Juventus makes winning start in Serie A

Reuters, London

Juventus made a winning start to their Italian title defense on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over Atalanta as Arsenal and Valencia continued their strong starts to the season.

Alessandro Del Piero scored twice in the first half and substitute Salvatore Fresi bagged a late third on his debut to help Juve match the victories achieved by their title rivals AC Milan and Inter on Saturday.

Christian Vieri's goal secured Inter's 1-0 win over Torino, while Filippo Inzaghi's double set up AC Milan's impressive 3-0 victory at newly promoted Modena.

The two Rome giants made disappointing starts to their campaigns, however, AS Roma going down 2-1 at Bologna and Lazio losing 3-2 at home by Chievo, last season's surprise package in Serie A.

Spanish champions Valencia continued their perfect start with a comfortable 3-0 win over Recreativo Huelva but Real Madrid's preparations for the start of their Champions League defense were hit when their game at Real Betis was abandoned after 44 minutes because of repeated floodlight failure.

Barcelona and Deportivo Coruna notched up their first wins of the season, Luis Enrique setting Barca on the way to a 2-0 victory at Athletic Bilbao and Roy Makaay scoring twice in Depor's 2-1 triumph at Osasuna.

Champions Arsenal continued to set the pace in the premier league with a 3-0 win at Charlton Athletic in which they established an English top-flight record by scoring for the 45th match in a row.

Tottenham Hotspur climbed to second after a 3-2 win over West Ham United and Liverpool kept up the pressure with a 3-2 win at Bolton Wanderers sealed by Emile Heskey's late strike.

But Manchester United's stuttering start to the season continued when they lost 1-0 at Leeds United. It was an unhappy return to his former club for England defender Rio Ferdinand, who joined Manchester United for 30 million pounds ($47 million) in July, Australian Harry Kewell heading the Leeds winner midway through the second half.

Michael Ballack's two goals gave Bayern Munich a 2-1 victory at Nuremberg and the 2001 European champions, who failed to win a trophy last season, lead the German first division after VfL Bochum lost 1-0 at home to Hansa Rostock, who climbed to second in the standings.

Champions Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 with Schalke 04, their fourth draw in five matches leaving them seventh.

Nice and AJ Auxerre lead the way in France after seven matches of the season, though both failed to win on Saturday.

Nice could manage only a 0-0 draw at En Avant Guingamp, while Auxerre were held 1-1 at Sochaux.