Barca thump Osasuna

Madrid, September 10 :

Samuel Eto’o scored two goals before halftime on Saturday to help defending champion Barcelona beat visiting Osasuna 3-0 and maintain its perfect start to the Spanish league season.

Lionel Messi also scored before halftime, giving Barcelona six points from the opening two games.

Valencia kept pace, winning its second by beating Atletico Madrid 1-0 on an early seventh minute goal by David Villa.

Barcelona’s Ronaldinho made an instant impact by creating the first goal for Eto’o in the second minute at Camp Nou stadium.

Eto’o scored a second by lifting the ball over advancing goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez in the 27th minute after Osasuna’s Enrique Corrales headed the ball backward into his path.

Barcelona’s third goal in the 37th minute also resulted on a defensive lapse after Ricardo’s attempted clearance rebounded off teammate Josetxo Romero to Eto’o. The Cameroonian passed to Messi, who sidefooted the ball through Ricardo’s legs for his first goal of the season.

Premiership :

LONDON: Manchester United maintained its 100 per cent record in the English Premier League with a 1-0 win over Tottenham.

Ryan Giggs scored in the ninth minute for United, which hasn’t lost to Spurs at Old Trafford in 17 years.

United has 12 points from its four matches. Portsmouth and Everton, who also won on Saturday, have 10 points each.

Also, it was: Arsenal 1, Middlesbrough 1; Bolton 1, Watford 0; Chelsea 2, Charlton 1; Newcastle 1, Fulham 2; Portsmouth 1, Wigan 0; and Sheffield United 0, Blackburn 0.

Chelsea beat Charlton 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, where new signing Ashley Cole made a second-half appearance. Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho scored for Chelsea, while Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink got one back against his former club. Frank Lampard missed a penalty for Chelsea late in the game.