Bayern and Manchester City Crush It Out of the Gate, PSG Bailed Out Late Again

Five goals at home, a brace scored in five minutes, and a draw cooked up in stoppage time. The weekend had a bit of everything, but more than anything it made clear who's in charge at the start of the season.

Let's start in Munich. Bayern did the thing we've all come to expect by now: they routed their opponent in the league opener, this time 5-1 over Stuttgart. Dayot Upamecano opened the scoring in the 21st minute, heading in a Joshua Kimmich corner, and although Josha Vagnoman equalized for the visitors in the 52nd minute, everything fell apart quickly for Stuttgart after that. Michael Olise restored the Bavarians' lead three minutes later, and Vagnoman made his afternoon worse with an own goal that made it 3-1. Aleksandar Pavlović wrapped up the rout with a fourth goal eight minutes from time, and Luis Díaz added a fifth in stoppage time. The number says it all: Bayern have now gone 15 straight years without losing their opening Bundesliga match.

In England, Manchester City left no doubt either. They won 4-1 at Crystal Palace and remain perfect, with six points from six. Erling Haaland, the Premier League's top scorer last season, opened the scoring with a header in the 17th minute and closed out the rout with a left-footed strike six minutes from the end. In between, Rayan Cherki stole the show, scoring twice in just five minutes in his 181st Premier League appearance. The Frenchman admitted the urgency to score had a very specific motive.

When I saw that Enzo Maresca wanted to substitute me, I didn't like it, so I had to show him that I wanted to play and that I wanted to scoreRayan Cherki

Cherki even rated his own performance as "so so," though the scoreline says otherwise. Palace, for their part, are still without a point after two matchdays, and midfielder Adam Wharton was candid about where the team stands.

I think we had good moments, but we didn't test their goalkeeper enough, like we should have done. It's a disappointing resultAdam Wharton

PSG bailed out again at the death

If City and Bayern were all about ruthless efficiency, Paris Saint-Germain lived through another nerve-wracking afternoon. The Ligue 1 defending champions rescued a 2-2 draw away at Lille with two goals in stoppage time, the second straight match they've needed a late comeback: the week before, they'd already drawn 2-2 at Rennes after falling behind. This time Lille went ahead through a stunning goal from Hakon Arnar Haraldsson and doubled their lead with Dilane Bakwa in the 84th minute. Everything looked settled until Vitinha pulled one back in the 91st minute and Marquinhos leveled it four minutes later.

The rest of Europe had its share of drama too. In Italy, AC Milan snapped a four-match losing streak at San Siro with a 2-0 win over Venezia, thanks to Goncalo Ramos and a late own goal from Redouane Halhal. And in Spain, Alavés moved to the top of the table by beating Villarreal 1-0 on a goal from Lucas Boye, while Racing de Santander got past Elche 3-2 behind a first-half hat trick from Yassir Zabiri, which proved enough despite a late rally from the Elche side.