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Atletico Madrid finally got their season up and running on Saturday, with Pablo Barrios and Nico Gonzalez on target in a 2-0 home victory over Villarreal that delivered the Spanish side's first win of the campaign, Reuters reported.

The victory lifted Atletico to ninth in the LaLiga standings with five points from four games, while dealing Villarreal their first defeat a month into the season.

Atletico struck early when Julian Alvarez capitalised on a defensive howler in the ninth minute, pouncing on Sergi Cardona's wayward back-pass to Renato Veiga before bursting into the box and brilliantly putting the ball on a plate for Barrios with a backheel pass. The midfielder fired a first-touch effort past Luiz Junior and into the back of the net, according to Reuters.

Kylian Mbappe scored and provided the assist for Arda Guler as Real Madrid weathered a second-half storm to beat Real Sociedad 2-1 on Saturday, maintaining their perfect LaLiga start despite playing most of the match with 10 men, Reuters reported.

The visitors got off to a flying start when Mbappe burst forward in a quick counter-attack in the second minute and set up Guler for what appeared to be the opener, only for VAR to spot that the French striker had been marginally offside in the build-up.

Mbappe made amends 10 minutes later, pouncing on a wayward back-pass from Mikel Goti to Igor Zubeldia and racing unmarked towards goal before striking past keeper Alex Remiro with a tidy finish to his left.

But the side's task became significantly harder when defender Dean Huijsen was shown a straight red card after the half-hour mark for hauling down Mikel Oyarzabal as the last man, according to Reuters.

Germany reached the Davis Cup Final 8 with a 4-0 rout of Japan, France secured a convincing win over Croatia and Argentina qualified after knocking out last year's finalists Netherlands in their second-round qualifying tie on Saturday, Reuters reported.

Austria also qualified with a dramatic 3-2 win over Hungary, while Belgium and Denmark took commanding 2-0 leads over Australia and Spain.

After Germany took a 2-0 lead on Friday in Tokyo, their victory was completed when Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz saved three set points in the second set to beat Japan's Yosuke Watanuki and Takeru Yuzuki 6-3 7-6(4) in the doubles. Justin Engel then beat Rei Sakamoto 6-3 6-7(2) 10-7, according to Reuters.

Arsenal ensured former Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou endured a miserable return to English football with a 3-0 victoryover his new club Nottingham Forest on Saturday, while a late Brentford goal denied Chelsea moving atop the table, Reuters reported.

Newcastle United's new signing Nick Woltemade enjoyed a dream debut, scoring in their 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers for their first victory of their campaign, while Bournemouth continued their strong start with a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, and Tottenham Hotspur cruised to a 3-0 winover West Ham United.

Fulham recorded their first win of the season by beating Leeds United 1-0 thanks to a late own goal, while Crystal Palace were held to a 0-0 draw by Sunderland and neither Everton nor Aston Villa could find the back of the net in a scoreless draw.

Villa have failed to score in their opening four league games of a season for the first time in their history, according to Reuters.