Rai raises the roof and sees red

EUROPEAN ROUND-UP

EUROPEAN ROUND-UP

Paris St-Germain moved above Bastia in the French First Division with an impressive 3-1 win at Gueugnon. A header by the Panamanian, Julio Dely Valdes, after three minutes and two second-half efforts by the Brazilian, Rai, and Xavier Gravelaine allowed PSG to outclass the newly promoted club.

However, the Paris club were reduced to 10 men in the the 73rd minute when Rai was sent off for a vicious tackle on the Gueugnon midfielder, Franck Jurietti.

PSG are on 11 points with Guingamp, who beat Bordeaux 1-0, and Metz, who were held to a goalless draw at Le Havre. Paris have a better goal difference. Bastia suffered their first defeat of the season, collapsing 3-0 at St Etienne. The champions, Nantes, had to wait until the last minute to beat Nice 1-0, with Japhet N'Doram scoring from the penalty spot.

In Germany, Bayern Munich, without the former Spurs striker Jurgen Klinsmann, who tore ankle ligaments last weekend, banished all memories of their humiliating 7-0 midweek defeat in a friendly against the Spanish club, Deportivo La Coruna, by humbling Karlsruhe 6-2 in the Bundesliga.

Ajax, meanwhile, began the new Dutch season with a comfortable 4-0 win over Utrecht yesterday. Patrick Kluivert, the 19-year-old scorer of the goal that defeated Milan in May's European Cup final, provided one of the Dutch side's goals and set up another another, scored by Danny Blind.