Voeller quits after losing to Bologna

FORMER Germany coach Rudi Voeller has quit AS Roma less than a month after taking charge of the Serie A club.

“I want to thank the president and the Sensi family who have accepted my decision to resign,” said Voeller after Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by nine-man Bologna. Voeller had been in charge for just four Serie A games. After an opening-day win over Fiorentina, Roma fell to a shock 4-3 defeat to promoted Messina and were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Lecce before Saturday’s embarrassment.

Bologna outclassed Roma to take a 3-0 lead but were forced to play the final 40 minutes of the game with just nine men. But a Francesco Totti goal was all that Roma could manage.

Inter Milan’s sluggish start to the Serie A season continued, as they needed two goals from substitute Obafemi Martins to secure a 2-2 home draw with Parma yesterday.

Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Palermo on Saturday.

Lazio missed a chance to tie Juventus for first place, blowing a one-goal lead in a 2-1 loss to defending champions AC Milan.

Fernando Couto had given Lazio the lead in the 37th minute, but Andriy Shevchenko scored two second-half goals for visiting Milan who face Celtic midweek.

Champions Valencia continued their impressive start to the Primera Liga season with an emphatic 2-0 victory over 10-man Racing Santander.

Valencia’s fourth win in five games put them at the top of the table. Barcelona kept pace by downing Mallorca 3-1. Samuel Eto’o scored two, one from the penalty spot, and Henrik Larsson added the other.

Real Zaragoza bounced back from a 4-1 defeat at Barcelona when they twice came from behind to claim a highly entertaining 4-3 win over Levante.

Valencia, who handed out a 5-1 thrashing to last season’s Champions League semi-finalists Deportivo Coruna in midweek, dominated at the Mestalla.

It was a stroke of luck that allowed them to take the lead, however, when they were awarded a dubious free kick after midfielder Momo Sissoko went down two metres outside the area in the 26th minute.

Vicente stepped up to take the free kick and his shot took a big deflection off the wall, wrong-footed keeper Dudu Aouate, and ended up in the back of the net.

Trouble-torn Real Madrid slumped to their second defeat in three Primera Liga games when they lost 2-1 to a classy Athletic Bilbao side on Saturday.

Athletic, without a win in their previous four matches, dominated at a packed San Mames, out-playing their bemused opponents who again struggled to find any fluency.

Goals from centre-forward Ismael Urzaiz and midfielder Santi Ezquerro gave the Basques a deserved 2-0 lead at halftime and although Raul pulled one back for Real soon after the break, the visitors never really threatened to stage a comeback.

Deportivo Coruna went some way to erasing the memory of their 5-1 thrashing by champions Valencia on Wednesday when they came from a goal down to earn a 1-1 home draw with Real Betis in Saturday’s late match.

Earlier, Atletico Madrid bounced back from a midweek defeat at Levante to claim a 1-0 home win over Villarreal thanks to a bullet header from striker Salva Ballesta.

A goalless draw at Olympique Lyon helped 10-man Monaco stay one point clear at the top of Ligue 1 while Paris St Germain grabbed its first win of the season by defeating RC Strasbourg 1-0 at the Parc des Princes. Monaco leads the standings on 17 points, with Lille moving above Lyon into second place on goal difference thanks to a 4-0 win over Metz.

VfB Stuttgart continued their unbeaten start to the season with a comfortable 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium on Saturday.

Despite the win, Stuttgart lie second, with unfashionable VfL Wolfsburg holding on to top spot after a dramatic late 2-1 victory over Kaiserslautern at the Volkswagen-Arena.

Comeback kings Bayern Munich banked an important 3-1 win at home to SC Freiburg but their manager Felix Magath was less than impressed, Captain Costinha scored a late goal to give champions Porto their first win of the Portuguese Premier League season on Saturday, 1-0 at Vitoria Guimaraes.

In Greece, Olympiakos withdrew Brazilian star Rivaldo at the break and it took a 74th minute goal from his compatriot Giovanni to give them a 1-0 win. Fenerbahce defeated Genclerbirligi 2-1 on Friday.