Moroccan Marouane Chamakh ended a two-year English Premier League goal drought, but could not prevent Crystal Palace losing 2-1 away to Stoke City at the weekend.
The former Arsenal striker scored during the first half for the newly promoted London club, who are pointless after losing at home to Tottenham in a season opener.
Veteran Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure is enjoying a new lease of life at Liverpool, shackling on-form Belgian striker Christian Benteke in a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa.
ENGLAND
MAROUANE CHAMAKH (Crystal Palace)
Morocco striker Chamakh marked his full Palace debut by scoring the opening goal at Stoke City with a coolly taken first-half strike. It was the former Arsenal player's first Premier League goal since September 2011, but he finished the day on the losing side as Stoke fought back to win 2-1.
YANNICK SAGBO (Hull City)
Sagbo had a home debut to forget, having been described as "silly" by Hull manager Steve Bruce after getting sent off in the 27th minute of his new side's 1-0 win over Norwich City. A close-season signing from French club Evian, the Ivorian striker was shown a straight red card for aiming a head-butt at Norwich defender Russell Martin.
KOLO TOURE (Liverpool)
Toure played a key role as Liverpool registered their second consecutive clean sheet in a 1-0 win at Aston Villa. The Ivory Coast centre-back shackled Villa's dangerous striker Christian Benteke superbly, and when the Belgian finally got a sight of goal in the game's dying stages, Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saved the day with a flying save.
MODIBO MAIGA (West Ham United)
In the absence of the injured Andy Carroll, Malian striker Maiga was again selected to start up front for West Ham at Newcastle United. He failed to make a telling contribution, however, and saw a late tap-in ruled out for offside.
FRANCE
AYMEN ABDENNOUR (Toulouse)
The Tunisia centre-half was outstanding as his side surprisingly held big-spending Monaco to a goalless draw in Ligue 1. The 24-year-old, who is beginning his third campaign in French football, marked Monaco's star Colombian striker Radamel Falcao out of the game. "He is a very good player, a very good defender," said a complimentary Falcao.
MUSTAPHA YATABARE (Guingamp)
Mali striker Yatabare was the star of Guingamp's 2-0 Brittany derby win against Lorient, netting both goals in the second half to give the promoted club their first points of the campaign. Yatabare was the top scorer in Ligue 2 last season with 23 goals and also netted in his team's opening-day defeat to Marseille.
ODAIR FORTES (Reims)
The 26-year-old winger from Cape Verde was the hero for Reims in their shock 1-0 win at Lyon, his cross taking a wicked deflection and looping into the net to clinch all three points. Fortes is something of a Reims stalwart now, having helped the club win two promotions in three seasons to return to the top flight after a long absence.
SIAKA TIENE (Montpellier)
After being frozen out at Paris Saint-Germain last season, only featuring as a late substitute in each of their final two matches to claim a championship winner's medal, Ivory Coast left-back Tiene is seeking to relaunch his career with 2012 title-winners Montpellier. And he endeared himself to his new fans by scoring in stoppage time to seal a 2-1 win against Sochaux.
SALOMON KALOU (Lille)
After seeing several key players depart during the close season, Lille are placing their hopes for this season in the hands of Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou. The former Chelsea player was only a substitute in last weekend's loss at Reims, but returned to the side and scored from the penalty spot to clinch a 1-0 home win against Saint-Etienne.
GERMANY
CEDRICK MAKIADI (Werder Bremen)
Playing in Bremen's defensive midfield role, the Democratic Republic of Congo international got through plenty of work stemming the flow of Borussia Dortmund's attacks as Werder Bremen lost 1-0 to the Bundesliga leaders. "Dortmund were just the better team this time," said the 29-year-old. "We weren't able to build our game the way we wanted in the first half, losing the ball too quickly and too often to Dortmund -- and with a team like them that is lethal."
MAME DIOUF (Hanover 96)
The Senegal striker scored his first goal of the season when he headed the winner in Hanover's 2-1 victory at home to Schalke 04 in a bad-tempered match which saw three players sent off. The 24-year-old won the penalty which Hungary striker Szabolcs Huszti converted before scoring in the 42nd minute to put Hanover 2-0 up.
ERIC CHOUPO-MOTING (MAINZ 05)
The Cameroon striker scored his first Bundesliga goal for 17 months when he fired home in Mainz's 2-0 win over VfL Wolfsburg to keep them fourth in the league. The 24-year-old missed most of last season with injury, but scored from a corner in the 61st minute.
IBRAHIMA TRAORE (VfB Stuttgart)
The Guinea midfielder lasted just six minutes when he came off the bench in Stuttgart's 2-1 defeat at Augsburg before being sent off for an over-zealous challenge on defender Ronny Philp. The decision left both Traore, 25, and Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia incredulous and the African will miss at least the next league game against Hoffenheim.
ITALY
KWADWO ASAMOAH (Juventus)
After a sterling first season for the Bianconeri, Juventus coach Antonio Conte kept faith with the Ghana midfielder for their league opener at Sampdoria, which the champions won 1-0 thanks to a 58th-minute goal from new striker Carlos Tevez. Asamoah, solid throughout, came closest to breaking the deadlock at the rain-hit Luigi Ferraris stadium when he met an Andrea Pirlo corner from the right which bounced in front of Angelo Da Costa and forced the 'keeper to tip the ball over the crossbar.
SAPHIR TAIDER (Inter)
Taider made his debut for Inter under new coach Walter Mazzarri but the Algerian midfielder had to wait until the 85th minute before making his cameo appearance, replacing Ricardo Alvarez. By then Inter, who endured a catastrophic season last time out when they finished ninth, led through a Yuto Nagatomo goal, and Rodrigo Palacio scored to seal a 2-0 win.
OGENYI ONAZI (Lazio)
Having scored his maiden Serie A goal at the tail end of last season in a 3-1 win over Inter, Onazi was given a cameo appearance for Lazio's first game of the season which resulted in a hard-fought win over Udinese. The 21-year-old Nigerian midfielder replaced Alvaro Gonzalez in the 76th minute, by which time the Rome club held a 2-1 lead.
RUSSIA
SEYDOU DOUMBIA (CSKA Moscow)
Ivorian Doumbia levelled on 52 minutes with a header as reigning Russian champions CSKA came from behind to win 2-1 at Tomsk.
AHMED MUSA (CSKA Moscow)
Lively Nigerian striker Musa completed a great day for Africans at Tomsk with the winner just short of the hour mark as he netted a rebound.
BENOIT CHRISTIAN ANGBWA (Samara)
The Cameroon defender helped stifle two-time champions Rubin Kazan in a 1-1 draw.
SPAIN
ALEX SONG (Barcelona)
Cameroon midfielder Song played the full 90 minutes for the first time this season as Barca ground out a 1-0 win at Malaga.
FABRICE (Malaga)
The 17-year-old Cameroonian came within inches of giving his side a point against champions Barcelona when he struck the post midway through the second half.
CEDRIC MABWATI (Real Betis)
Cedric from the Democratic Republic of Congo continued his bright early season form with a series of bustling runs down the left wing, but he couldn't prevent Betis falling to their second defeat of the season as they went down 2-1 at home to Celta Vigo.
Source: AFP
