Big names primed to impress

Club Brugge KV and Juventus FC will go into their opening UEFA Champions League Group A encounter on Wednesday in high spirits after securing weekend victories, though the same cannot be said of SK Rapid Wien, who are now four league games without a win, and will face FC Bayern München, a side yet to drop domestic points this season.

Club Brugge KV 2-1 K. Sint Truidense

Boško Balaban claimed two goals to help Brugge overcome Sint-Truiden. The Croatian opened the scoring rather fortuitously after 24 minutes when Ivan Leko's shot struck him on the chest. Jeroen Simaeys equalised seven minutes later, before Balaban hit the winning goal with a superbly taken free-kick.

Stijn Stijnen replaced Tomislav Butina as the latter is suffering from pneumonia, while Marek Spilar appeared for the first time since December in the absence of knee injury victim Philippe Clement. Left-sided defender Michael Klukowski played the whole game but subsequent tests showed a serious knee injury and he will be out for six weeks. Rune Lange (calf), Ivan Gvozdenovic (knee), Manasseh Ishiaku (thigh) and Dieter Van Tornhout (flu) also remain sidelined.

Brugge coach Jan Ceulemans, who gave a debut to Javier Portillo, said: "It is not easy against these kinds of teams. They keep a lot of people behind the ball, and they have the right to do that. Once we scored a lucky goal I thought we would win comfortably but we panicked after they equalised. We have the will to find the solution playing good football, and we have the players to play directly forward."

Balaban had scored twice in Croatia's 3-1 FIFA World Cup qualifying win against Iceland last weekend, though team-mate Leko remained on the bench. Leko was an unused sub once more in Wednesday's 1-1 draw against Malta, where Balaban the whole game but failed to score.

Empoli FC 0-4 Juventus FC

Juventus maintained their impressive start to the season with a 4-0 win away from home against newly-promoted Empoli. The visitors led 3-0 after 15 minutes through David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira and Mauro Camoranesi, before Trezeguet completed an emphatic victory for the Scudetto holders on 59 minutes with his third goal in two games.

Juventus coach Fabio Capello said: "The win against Empoli was a good result. The team is always hungry for victory and never satisfied. The whole squad is eager to play and to win. I really liked how the team played when they were leading 3-0. They could have slowed down but they did not and I am really happy about that. I want my team to always play like that."

Capello was short of defensive cover with Lilian Thuram and Jonathan Zebina suffering from injuries, while goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Alessandro Birindelli remain long-term absentees. Gianluca Pessotto replaced Zebina on the right of defence, while Robert Kovac partnered Fabio Cannavaro at centre-back. Alessandro Del Piero also missed the game through injury but is expected to recover for Wednesday's game with Brugge.

Neither Marcelo Zalayeta, who claimed a hat-trick for Uruguay against Colombia in midweek, nor Adrian Mutu, scorer of both goals in Romania's 2-0 World Cup qualifying win against the Czech Republic last Saturday, played as Capello opted for his usual striking combination of Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The latter scored the winner in Sweden's World Cup qualifying win against Hungary last week.

VfB Admira Wacker Mödling 1-1 SK Rapid Wien

Rapid required a last-gasp Roman Kienast goal to salvage a point at bottom side Admira. The home side looked to have secured victory when Gabor Egressy opened the scoring in the 89th minute, before Kienast levelled, making it four games without a win for Rapid, who now lie third in the Austrian Bundesliga and four points off the summit.

Rapid coach Joseph Hickersberger, who was sent to the stands after criticising the referee, said: "We had some good chances but were unlucky in the end. We won't have so many opportunities against FC Bayern München so we must play much more efficiently against the Germans."

The Austrian champions were without Andreas Ivanschitz who was rested after suffering a thigh muscle injury playing for Austria in their World Cup qualifiers against Poland and Azerbaijan, and so 18-year-old Veli Kavlak deputized in his place.

1. FC Nürnberg 1-2 FC Bayern München

Goals from Paolo Guerrero and Michael Ballack helped Bayern recover from Horatio Javier Pinola's opening strike to take all three points from their trip to Nürnberg, equalling their own German Bundesliga record of 13 consecutive wins. Bayern are also the only top-flight German side with a perfect start to the season after four games and lead the table by two points.

"We found it extremely difficult against a dedicated Nürnberg side but it is great to have taken all three points from the match," said Bayern coach Felix Magath. "We can now look forward to the trip to Vienna. The first match in the Champions League is always important and it is a challenge we want to master."

Magath went into the match without his first-choice strikers Roy Makaay and Roque Santa Cruz. Makaay was nursing a knee injury that he picked up while on international duty with the Netherlands, though he has since been passed fit for the trip to Vienna, whereas Santa Cruz strained a thigh muscle in training but was able to make a substitute appearance.

Martin Demichelis also returns from an ankle injury for Wednesday's match, but Hasan Salihamidzic (groin), Philipp Lahm (cruciate ligament), Andreas Ottl (ankle), Michael Rensing (shoulder) and Andreas Görlitz (cruciate ligament) are likely to remain sidelined. Claudio Pizarro could also miss the match after picking up a back injury in training on Sunday.