LONDON, Sept 16: European giants Bayern Munich and Barcelona warmed up for their midweek Champions League fixtures with victories but Real Madrid and AC Milan still have work to do as they fell to defeats in league action on Saturday.

Bayern, who welcome Valencia in the Champions League on Wednesday, maintained their perfect start to the Bundesliga season when a 3-1 home win over Mainz gave them a third win in three league matches.

Goals from Mario Mandzukic and Bastian Schweinsteiger after 13 minutes looked to have put Bayern in an unassailable position but an Adam Szalai penalty on the hour set the stage for a tricky finale before Toni Kroos made sure of the three points with a goal in the 92nd minute.

German champions Borussia Dortmund kept up the chase on Bayern with a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Mats Hummels scored in the 29th before Mario Goetze let Lukasz Piszczek’s cross run behind for the free Jakub Blaszczykowski to fire in Dortmund’s second in the 39th, and Robert Lewandowski scored his first of the season in the 78th to put Dortmund fourth in the table.

“We will take everything positive from this game into the next against Ajax,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp ahead of his side’s opening Champions League home match against the Dutch champions on Tuesday.

Schalke 04 later went third with a 2-0 win at Greuther Fuerth.

Germany international Julian Draxler broke the deadlock straight after the restart with a 25-metre missile as Schalke boosted their confidence ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League game at Olympiakos.

Lewis Holtby sealed victory two minutes from time with his second league goal of the season, tapping in from close range.

Meanwhile, Hanover 96 moved into second place in the Bundesliga after a 3-2 win over Werder Bremen.

In Spain, Real Madrid’s stuttering start to La Liga continued when they lost 1-0 at Sevilla to slip eight points behind leaders Barcelona who were 4-1 victors at Getafe.

Piotr Trochowski got the only goal for Sevilla as Real’s haul of just four points so far condemned the Spanish giants to their most damaging opening since the 2001-02 season.

“We got what we deserved after a horrible game,” said Real coach Jose Mourinho, who will have to find some quick answers before hosting Manchester City in one of the most attractive of the Champions League openers on Tuesday.

“My players’ heads are not focused, for many of them football is not a priority. I am not worried about the points, my worry is that I don’t have a team.”

Barcelona, meanwhile, routed Getafe as Lionel Messi went on with half an hour to play and added to Adriano’s opener with a pair of goals before David Villa netted to maintain the club’s 100 percent record.

Barca coach Tito Vilanova was happy with the result but concerned about Carles Puyol who limped off in the second-half, just four days before the visit of Spartak Moscow in their opening Champions League fixture.

“The most important thing is we have 12 points from 12, we tried to control the game and we could have scored a few more.

We’ll see tomorrow how long Puyol will be out, it’s a problem, he gives us a lot of organisation at the back and is very important for us,” said the coach.

Malaga, who begin their first Champions League venture when Zenit St Petersburg visit on Tuesday, climbed to second in La Liga after Javier Saviola inspired them to a 3-1 win over Levante and stay two points behind Barca in second position.

Valencia, meanwhile, will need to play much better than they did in their 2-1 win over Celta Vigo if they are to take something against Bayern.

AC Milan suffered a second consecutive home defeat in the Serie A after a second-half Luca Cigarini strike gave Atlanta a shock 1-0 win at the San Siro, increasing talk of unrest within Silvio Berlusconi’s club as the Champions League approaches with their opener against Anderlecht on Tuesday.

But Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri is hoping the start of Milan’s Champions League campaign can kick-start their stuttering season.

“I believe that we have to continue to work, but fortunately on Tuesday we have our match in the Champions League that will give us the opportunity to redeem ourselves and get going again,” he told reporters.

Elsewhere, 2011 French champions Lille, who host BATE Borisov in the Champions League on Wednesday, were held to a 1-1 draw by Troyes in Ligue 1.—Agencies