Kanoute scored a hat-trick to help Sevilla win the Spanish Super Cup

A hat-trick by Mali striker Frederic Kanoute on Sunday carried Sevilla to a thrilling Spanish Super Cup victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Kanoute's exceptional display was the highlight of another weekend of impressive performances by African stars, demonstrating pace, power and skill, in Europe.

Sevilla led the traditional Spanish season curtain-raiser 1-0 from the first leg and Kanoute's stunning treble carried them to a 6-3 aggregate victory.

Then Kanoute, a scorer in each of Sevilla's previous four trophy victories, netted a cool penalty that put his side 3-1 up in the 38th minute.

Real clawed level with 12 minutes left, but Kanoute settled the match four minutes later, stealing in to take advantage of a mix-up in the Madrid defence and prodding home.

The Malian completed his hat-trick in a stoppage time breakaway with an accomplished finish.

Kanoute will now go into the league campaign full of confidence and looking to build on last season when his 21 league goals carried Sevilla to third place.

Egyptian striker Mido capped his Middlesbrough debut with a goal as Gareth Southgate's team won 2-1 at Fulham.

Mido only joined Middlesbrough on Thursday and Southgate was delighted with the muscular contribution of his US$12m new boy.

Mido's tame shot after 55 minutes was not deserving of a goal, but Fulham goalkeeper Tony Warner somehow shovelled the ball into the net.

Elsewhere, Nigerian strikers John Utaka and Nwankwo Kanu were in deadly form as Portsmouth brushed aside a tepid Bolton Wanderers team on Saturday, winning 3-1.

Bolton took the lead early at Fratton Park after Senegal winger El-Hadji Diouf set up Frenchman Nicholas Anelka.

But it was all Portsmouth thereafter with Utaka, a club record US$16m purchase from French Club Rennes, in particularly scintillating form.

First he knocked down a deep Gary O'Neill cross into the path of his countryman Kanu, who made no mistake from close range.

Then Utaka raced from the halfway line and rounded the goalkeeper expertly to give Pompey the lead.

Rennes managed to rescue a point in French Ligue 1 at Nice after Ivory Coast striker Bakary Kone had deservedly put the home side in front after 26 minutes.

On Sunday, Moroccan forward Youssouf Hadji scored a late equaliser to earn AS Nancy a point in front of over 55,000 fans at Olympique Marseille.

Senegal striker Mamadou Niang gave Marseille a 22nd minute lead and France's Djibril Cisse doubled the advantage early in the second half.

Benjamin Gavanon started the Nancy comeback with a penalty after Hadji was fouled.

Then Hadji coolly converted a deep cross to earn Nancy a point that surprisingly put them joint top of Ligue 1, albeit with only four games played.

Promising Nigerian striker Soloman Okoronkwo scored in the last 10 minutes to cap a roaring comeback from Hertha Berlin, who beat struggling champions VfB Stuttgart 3-1.

Holders Anderlecht were held 2-2 by newly-promoted Denden despite taking a two goal lead through their North African pair.

Mido scored on his debut for Middlesbrough

Egyptian Ahmed Hassan put Anderlecht ahead before Moroccan Mbark Boussoufa doubled in the 17th minute.

A first-half rally by Denden saw them equalise before the interval.

Rwanda striker Henri Munyaneza equalised for Denden in the 41st minute.

Nigerian Joseph Akpala scored the lone goal winner for Charleroi in the last minute to beat Mechelen.

Dieumerci Mbokani Bezua scored twice as Standard Liege trounced Cercle Bruges 4-1.

The Congo-Kinshasa striker scored both goals in the first-half.

The main headline after the opening weekend was the surprise 1-1 draw between promoted Leixoes and Benfica.

And the player who attracted all the attention was Nigerian Udochukwu Nwoko who equalised in the fourth minute of added time after Benfica had scored what looked like the winner in the 89th minute.

Sporting Lisbon, Maritimo and Porto are joint top.

They were the only teams with victories at the weekend.

Gabon's Daniel Cousin is becoming a hit with Rangers fans after he scored twice in his side's 7-2 thrashing of Falkirk.

The weekend's two goals add to the previous week's double he scored in his debut. Rangers are top with maximum nine points after three games.

Guinean defender Oumar Kalabane scored what turned out to be the winner for Manisaspor who beat Ankaraspor 2-1.

And Senegalese Mahamadou Diallo scored in the last minute to give Sivasspor a 2-1 win over Istanbul.