Carlos and Maldini lead way with brace apiece

TWO OF European football’s most famous defenders made their presence felt at the other end of the pitch with two goals apiece in Spain and Italy.

Roberto Carlos struck twice for Real Madrid as they kept the pressure on Primera Liga leaders Celta Vigo while Paolo Maldini scored two for the first time in his long career as AC Milan went to second place in Serie A.

Real’s emphatic 4-0 thrashing of Real Mallorca moved them closer to second-placed Celta Vigo, who lost their chance to return to the top of Spanish league when they could only draw 1-1 at Cadiz yesterday.

Unbeaten Getafe, who beat Valencia 2-1 on Saturday, are the league leaders with 14 points from six games while Celta are one point back and Real, after their stuttering start, have now put together three consecutive wins and have 12 points in third.

Real’s four goals all came from the feet of their Brazilian strike force. Ronaldo opened the scoring after 32 minutes and then Roberto Carlos connected with a David Beckham corner just a minute before the break. He found the net again after 65 minutes with one of his trademark thunderbolt free-kicks from the edge of the area and 12 minutes later Julio Baptista finished off a Beckham free-kick.

Level on points with Real are Osasuna, who won 1-0 at previously unbeaten Deportivo La Coruna.

Manchester United’s Champions League group rivals Villarreal may still be without a goal in Europe but they have at least started to find the net regularly on the domestic stage and beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1.

Alaves got their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory at Racing Santander, while an own goal from Daniel Jarque three minutes into injury time denied his Espanyol side an away win at Sevilla to leave the final score 1-1.

Real Zaragoza came agonisingly close to ending their 40-year wait for a victory at Barcelona’s Nou Camp on Saturday but finally had to settle for a 2-2 draw with the reigning Spanish champions, for whom Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o scored in the last 12 minutes to salvage a point.

In Italy, Maldini scored two goals in a match for the first time to give AC Milan a 2-1 home win over struggling Reggina yesterday. Extending his record number of Serie A appearances to 572, the 37-year-old captain showed he can attack as well as defend with two clinical finishes in the first 20 minutes before Simone Cavalli grabbed a late consolation goal. AC Milan’s third successive league victory lifted them up to second on 13 points, five behind league leaders Juventus who stretched their lead and their unbeaten record with a 2-0 victory over Inter Milan last night. French striker David Trezeguet opened up the scoring for Juve in the 22nd minute and the lead was doubled by Pavel Nedved in the 35th.

Fiorentina are level on points with AC Milan after their 3-2 victory at home to Livorno.

Sampdoria are on 12 points after they thumped Messina 4-1 in Sicily while the home side’s island rivals Palermo were held to a 2-2 draw by Empoli and Roma lost 3-2 at home to Siena. Ascoli beat Parma 3-1 and Lecce thrashed Cagliari 3-0 for their first win of the season.

On Saturday, Vincenzo Iaquinta marked his return to the Udinese team after being left out for two weeks because of a contract dispute by scoring the first goal and setting up the second in their 3-0 home win over Lazio. And Treviso drew 0-0 at Chievo to pick up their first point of the season.

French champions Lyon, who reigned supreme in their Champions League group midweek, successfully returned to their quest for a fifth straight Ligue title with a 3-1 win at struggling Rennes. Gerard Houllier’s side maintained their four-point lead on Paris St Germain, who were 2-0 winners against Nantes on Saturday, with Bordeaux third, a point back after a 1-0 win at Metz.

German title challengers SV Hamburg stayed in touch with champions Bayern Munich with a 3-0 win at Kaiserslautern yesterday.

Bayern themselves had convincing 2-0 win at home against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.

Werder Bremen stay third, a point behind SV Hamburg, after a 2-1 win at Hertha Berlin.

In the Dutch Eredivisie Nigel De Jong scored twice as Arsenal’s Champions League rivals Ajax won 2-1 at Sparta.