England

MANCHESTER — Manchester City's Erling Haaland struck a second half hat trick as the Premier League champions came back from two goals down to beat Crystal Palace 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The Norwegian, who averaged almost a goal per game in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund before his move to City in June, has now scored six times in his opening four league matches for Pep Guardiola's side.

The win moves City to the top of the table, level on 10 points with Brighton & Hove Albion. Palace are 13th with four points from their opening four games.

Liverpool earned their first win of the season in stunning fashion after equalling the record for the biggest ever Premier League victory with a 9-0 thrashing of newly promoted Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday.

On Monday, Ellen White announced her retirement from football. The decision was somewhat surprising from the 33-year-old Manchester City striker who had just won the European championship with England. At least, it was surprising until she detailed to BBC a harrowing experience with a punctured lung suffered during acupuncture treatment last year. 

Newcastle United have signed Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad on a long-term deal, the Premier League club said on Friday, shattering their transfer record to recruit the Sweden striker.

The clubs did not disclose the fee but British media reported Newcastle paid around 59 million pounds ($70.03 million) to sign the 22-year-old.

Alexander Isak Transfer Fee

• $70.03 million

Our new centre-forward. pic.twitter.com/CcSE1qUGzG

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was named UEFA Player of the Year and Carlo Ancelotti took the coaching honors after they led the club to a record-extending 14th Champions League title last season.

Benzema was in red-hot form, scoring 15 times in the competition and lifting the trophy for a fifth time in his career after the Spanish side beat Liverpool in the final.

Ancelotti became the first coach to win Europe's most prestigious club trophy four times. He first won the title with AC Milan in 2003 and 2007 before claiming it with Real in 2014.

Leeds United are flying high after a fine start to the Premier League season but manager Jesse Marsch has told his squad to keep their feet on the ground and maintain their momentum if they are to stay in the top four.

Leeds convincingly beat Chelsea 3-0 last weekend to move up to third — two points behind leaders Arsenal — a position they will have to get used to after narrowly escaping relegation last season following Marsch's arrival in March.

They also beat Yorkshire neighbors Barnsley 3-1 on Wednesday to move into the third round of the League Cup.

This here is Week 3 of our keeping track of Americans abroad in these power rankings that aren't really power rankings, and I declare this edition a collector's issue. That's right, fire up the printer, make sure you've got the necessary ink levels and print this whole webpage out for posterity.

This was the week the USMNT made a strong claim to be retroactively awarded the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Chelsea 3-0 at Elland Road.  

After watching its midfield get played off the park against Brighton and Brentford in successive weeks, Manchester United acted decisively by luring five-time Champions League winner Casemiro from Real Madrid for a transfer fee that could potentially rise to $82.4 million.