European Football: Bayern open in style

WITH Jean-Pierre Papin making his Bundesliga debut, Bayern Munich opened their defence of the German title with a convincing 3-1 home win over VfL Bochum on Saturday. The French international did not score but Giovanni Trapattoni, Bayern's new coach from Juventus, saw Mehmet Scholl, Thomas Helmer and Manfred Nerlinger hit the target for his side.

Borussia Dortmund are likely to provide the biggest challenge to Bayern, having spent pounds 6m on importing Andy Moller and Julio Cesar from Juventus. They crushed newly promoted Munich 1860 4-0 with goals from Karlheinz Riedle, Stephane Chapuisat, Thomas Franck and Michael Zorc.

At the start of the new season in Portugal, defending champions Benfica defeated Beira Mar 2-0, while Porto won 2-0 against Braga.