Pep Guardiola and Manchester City returned to winning ways as a competitive Premier League title race with the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham continued this weekend.
In LaLiga, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid were all victorious as they moved into the top three positions in the table.
But away from Europe's major players, there were some remarkable stories...
BALOTELLI BACK WITH A BANG AS NICE FAIRYTALE CONTINUES
Nice's sixth Ligue 1 win in a row saw Nantes thrashed 4-1 on Sunday, with Balotelli racing clear to score his sixth goal of the league season and add to Wylan Cyprien's opener.
Emiliano Sala got a goal back for Nantes, but another in-form Nice attacker, Alassane Plea restored Nice's two-goal advantage before Cyprien finished the victory in style after good work from Balotelli and Ricardo Pereira in the build-up.
Head coach Lucien Favre said: "I'm thinking first and foremost about the fact we have 29 points.
"It is not really what we expected. We will savour this but we are already thinking about the next match."
Crotone had been reeling after making one of the worst starts to a Serie A season, but now they are well on the way to becoming one of the league's form teams.
Marcello Trotta's penalty had Crotone ahead, but the home fans could not celebrate fully until Diego Falcinelli – who had earlier argued with Trotta over who would take the spot-kick - scored his third goal of the league season in stoppage-time.
Anthony Modeste's hat-trick gave Cologne a 3-0 home victory over Hamburg on Sunday.
Markus Gisdol's visitors were in the game until Bobby Wood's red card after 58 minutes, after which Modeste struck three times in a 25-minute period.
Indeed, that was Hamburg's third red card in as many Bundesliga games, which is more than their tally of points and goals (both two) after nine matches.
There are more unwanted statistics too, with Hamburg's 596-minute spell without a goal the longest run in their Bundesliga history.
Gidsol attempted to paint a positive picture despite the horrendous record, saying: "There were many things on which we can build.
"That we are not suddenly exploding is also clear. We must laboriously and gradually move closer to success."
Meanwhile, Modeste's hat-trick was Cologne's first since 1997, giving their fans perfect reason to celebrate the upcoming carnival in the city.
FANS FLOCK TO GARCIA'S FIRST HOME GAME
Marseille attracted a huge crowd of over 57,000 to Rudi Garcia's first home game as the club's manager, having made a solid start in a 0-0 away draw against champions Paris Saint-Germain in his opening match at the helm.
"Overall, I'm satisfied," said Garcia. "I'm just a disappointed that we didn't win, that we couldn't score the goal that would have been the perfect reward for our attacking efforts in the second half.
"A goal would have been perfect to live up to the Velodrome's atmosphere; it was just magic that there so many people were there."
Empoli were far from free scorers last season in Serie A – they netted 40 from 38 games on their way to a respectable 10th-place finish.
Empoli have now scored only twice in 11 matches, failing to score in 10 of them – giving them two significant statistics.
Meanwhile, Empoli's run of eight consecutive matches without a goal is a streak not seen since Verona managed it in 1979.
Giovanni Martusciello's men play promoted Pescara next week as they desperately bid to end the streak.
