LONDON — Robin van Persie held off last year's winner Lionel Messi to earn player of the week honors in the first round of the Associated Press global football poll. Both players scored twice, but Van Persie's acrobatic volley and long-range goal in Manchester United's 4-1 win over Swansea in the Premier League gave the Dutchman the edge over Messi by five points. But Messi's Barcelona finished at the top of the team voting with 221 of an available 230 points after its 7-0 thrashing of Levante in the Spanish League. United is in second position, ahead of Juventus in third and English side Chelsea, who is fourth. Big-spending French club Monaco is in fifth and its forward Emmanuel Riviere, who scored his first career hat trick in the 4-1 win over Montpellier in the French league, finished third in the player rankings. Riviere came 46 points above Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas in fourth. The 26-year-old Fabregas was instrumental in his team's weekend triumph after an off-season where English champion United tried to sign the Spain midfielder. Hoffenheim midfielder Roberto Firminho has been voted into fifth place by the AP's panel of 23 journalists. Firmino scored two and assisted on the other three goals in Hoffenheim's 5-1 win away to Hamburg — a victory that places Hoffenheim eighth in the top-ten teams. Van Persie's strike partner at United, Danny Welbeck, entered the player rankings in seventh place after scoring the other two goals for United in its opening fixture. — AP
