Published : Sept. 28, 2014 - 20:23
LONDON (AP) ― Wayne Rooney scored and then was ejected from a Premier League game for the first time in 5 1/2 years as Manchester United defeated West Ham 2-1 Saturday.
Rooney put the hosts in front with a deft volley in the fifth minute, and Robin van Persie doubled the lead in the 22nd minute with his 50th goal for United. Diafra Sakho scored on a header for the Hammers in the 37th.
Rooney was ejected by referee Lee Mason in the 59th minute for kicking Stewart Downing high on the leg, which would result in a three-game suspension if the ejection is deemed to be violent conduct by the English Football Association. That would cause the United captain to miss games against Everton, West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea.
“I could imagine why he did it, but I think you have to do it more friendly,” United manager Louis van Gaal said.
Rooney had not been ejected from a Premier League match since receiving two yellow cards against Fulham on March 21, 2009.
United (2-2-2) won for the second time in seven matches overall under van Gaal. There were the two sides of Wayne Rooney, scoring before being sent off for a reckless challenge as Manchester United held on to win 2-1.
First-place Chelsea (5-0-1) defeated Aston Villa and American goalkeeper Brad Guzan 3-0, with Diego Costa heading in his eighth goal in six league games for his new club between goals by Oscar and Willian.
Frank Lampard made it four goals in three games for third-place Manchester City (3-1-2) to complete a 4-2 win at Hull after the defending champions wasted a 2-0 lead.
In the day’s derbies, Arsenal and Tottenham tied 1-1, as did Liverpool and Everton. Nacer Chadli scored in the 56th minute for visiting Spurs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain six minutes later for the Gunners. At Anfield, Everton’s Phil Jagielka scored on a half-volley from outside the penalty area in second-half stoppage time after Steven Gerrard put the Reds ahead on a 65th-minute free kick that went in off a hand of diving American goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Southampton (4-1-1) beat Queens Park Rangers 2-1 on second-half goals by Ryan Bertrand and Graziano Pelle to remain three points behind Chelsea. Sunderland remains winless after drawing 0-0 with Swansea, while Crystal Palace beat Leicester 2-0.
Barcelona’s Neymar (left) and Granada’s Allan Romeo Nyom challenge for the ball on Saturday. (AFP-Yonhap)
Neymar scored his first Spanish league hat trick in a 6-0 rout of Granada, and Lionel Messi got two goals to raise his total for club and country to 40 ― 359 for Barcelona and 42 for Argentina. The 27-year-old Messi has 248 Spanish league goals, three shy of matching the La Liga career scoring record set by Telmo Zarra from 1940-55.
Barcelona (5-0-1) has outscored opponents 17-0 in the league this season.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored for his sixth straight game, helping Real Madrid (4-2) to a 2-0 win at Villarreal. Ronaldo has 10 league goals this season and 13 in all competitions.
First-place Bayern Munich (4-0-2) won 2-0 win at Cologne in the Bundesliga. Former Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze put Bayern in front in the 19th minute, and forced an own goal from Daniel Halfar in the 66th.
Borussia Moenchengladbach (3-0-3) won 2-1 at Paderborn to stay two points behind Bayern in second place.
Joe Gyau dressed for Dortmund in its 2-1 loss at Schalke but didn’t get into the match, three days after making his first-team Dortmund debut as a 73rd-minute substitute in a 2-2 tie against Stuttgart.
In the second division, American Andrew Wooten scored for the fourth straight game, converting a 90th-minute penalty kick for Sandhausen in a 2-1 loss at Eintracht Braunschweig on Friday night.
Roma and Juventus maintained their perfect league starts, improving to 5-0 in the Serie A.
Defending champion Juventus won 3-0 at Atalanta. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved German Denis’ penalty kick as Juventus became the first team in Serie A history to win its opening five games without conceding a goal. Carlos Tevez scored in the 35th and 59th minutes, and Alvaro Morata in the 83rd for Juventus, which has 10 league goals this season.
Mattia Destro scored from near the halfway line in the 86th minute to help Roma (5-0) beat Hellas Verona 2-0. Alessandro Florenzi had put the hosts ahead in the 75th.
Paris Saint-Germain’s defensive frailties were exposed again in 1-1 draw at Toulouse.
Wissam Ben Yedder put the hosts ahead in the eighth minute, and PSG tied the score on a 33rd-minute goal by Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, who replaced injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic in its attack.
PSG (3-0-5) moved into second but Marseille can open a five-point lead if it beats Saint-Etienne on Sunday.