The Malta Independent on Sunday

Man City's winning start to the Premier League season ends in 2-1 loss at Wolverhamp­ton

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Manchester City's winning start to the Premier League season ended in a 2-1 loss at Wolverhamp­ton on Saturday.

An own goal from Ruben Dias and a goal from Wolves' Hwang Hee-chan snapped City's run of winning its opening six Premier League games of the season, despite a free-kick goal from Julian Alvarez.

Three days after City's first loss of the season to Newcastle in the League Cup, the defeat to Wolves meant back-to-back losses for City for the first time since January.

Mateo Kovacic started for City in the absence of the suspended Rodri. Josko Gvardiol was replaced by Nathan Ake in the City defense with Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips on the bench.

Wolves took the lead in the 13th minute when City gave away the ball, with Pedro Neto picking up possession and advancing from his own half to the visitors' box, where his cross was diverted by Dias past Ederson and into his own goal.

City conceded the opening goal for the fourth time in its last five games in all competitio­ns.

City drew level in the 58th minute when Alvarez curled a fine free-kick into the top corner of the net.

Eight minutes later, Hwang restored Wolves' lead. The South Korea internatio­nal saw his first shot blocked but teammate Matheus Cunha reacted quickly to pass the rebound back to Hwang to score with his second attempt.

Bayern Munich rides its luck to draw at Leipzig 2-2 in Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen moves top

Harry Kane and Leroy Sané scored for Bayern Munich to fight back and draw at Leipzig 2-2 in the Bundesliga on Saturday, preserving the 11-time defending champion's unbeaten start.

But Bayern needed goalkeeper Sven Ulreich to deny Benjamin Šeško what looked like was going to be a late winner for Leipzig in injury time.

Ulreich was the central figure as Bayern rode its luck at times.

The goalkeeper almost gifted Leipzig the opener when he had emerged from goal to stop Xavi Simons, then passed the ball straight to Emil Forsberg. The Leipzig midfielder's shot drifted to the right and wide.

Loïs Openda scored with the next real chance for Leipzig in the 20th, and Castello Lukeba made it 2-0 six minutes later after Ulreich failed to gather a corner that Openda laid back for his teammate.

Ulreich had a let-off before the break after bringing down Openda who was through on goal in the penalty area – the Leipzig forward was flagged offside and VAR confirmed the call. The Bayern goalkeeper might have been shown a red card otherwise.

Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel sent on Mathys Tel and Raphaël Guerreiro for the second half and his team was given a way back when Benjamin Henrichs was penalized for handball through VAR after a free kick struck the back of his arm.

Kane duly scored from the spot in the 57th. Jamal Musiala set up Leroy Sané to equalize on a counteratt­ack in the 70th.

Bayern was fortunate again when defender Dayot Upamecano did not see a second yellow card for a foul on Xavi in the 73rd.

Bellingham impresses again as Real Madrid deals Girona its 1st defeat of season to go top of league

Jude Bellingham scored one goal and set up another as Real Madrid dealt Girona its first defeat of the season to move ahead of the hosts at the top of the Spanish league on Saturday.

Bellingham fueled Madrid's 3-0 victory on the road after passing for Joselu Mato's 17th-minute opener. He then rounded off the scoring with his league-leading sixth goal in eight games after Aurélien Tchouaméni doubled the advantage.

Madrid climbed over Girona and Barcelona to the top of the standings. Carlo Ancelotti's Madrid now leads Barcelona by one point and Girona by two.

Girona, which is partly owned

Manchester City's Abu Dhabi ownership, had entered the round leading the league after winning six straight games for the first time in club history.

Madrid lost defender Nacho Fernández in injury time when he saw a direct red for a studs-first tackle on Girona's Cristian "Portu" Portugués. Portu had to be carried off on a stretcher. The foul led to a brief confrontat­ion between players.

Mbappé plays but fails to score as PSG draws 0-0 at Clermont. Monaco faces Marseille

Star striker Kylian Mbappé was kept quiet and Paris Saint-Germain could not find a way to score in a 0-0 draw at struggling Clermont in the French league on Saturday.

Mbappé shook off a minor injury to his left ankle sustained in last Sunday's 4-0 home win against Marseille and started. He received a yellow card for diving in an attempt to win a penalty in the 80th minute, but could not add to his league-leading seven goals.

PSG moved up to second place but has won only three of its seven league games under new coach Luis Enrique, drawing three and losing one. The draw moved Clermont off the bottom and into 17th place with two points.

A home win for Monaco later Saturday at home to Marseille would put it on top. Marseille coach Gennaro Gattuso was taking charge of his first game.

Goalkeeper Mory Diaw thwarted PSG with a couple of saves in the first half from right winger Ousmane Dembélé.

Clermont defender Cheick Konaté forced a save from PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 53rd minute and, one minute later, Mbappé hit the post from Dembélé's cross.

Diaw, who played for PSG's reserves from 2012-15, produced a fine save from substitute Goncalo Ramos in the 81st and another from midfielder Danilo in stoppage time.

PSG faces a difficult-looking trip to play Newcastle in the Champions League on Wednesday.

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