European football returned to action across multiple leagues, with Inter Milan making a statement in their Serie A title defence and Bayern Munich lifting the German Supercup in a tense contest against Borussia Dortmund.
Inter began their campaign in dominant fashion, defeating newly promoted Monza 4-1 at San Siro. Hakan Calhanoglu opened the scoring inside six minutes, but the hosts eased off afterward, allowing Gustavo Varela to level for Monza just before the half-hour mark. Cristian Chivu's side responded emphatically after the interval, with Piotr Zielinski restoring the lead only three minutes into the second half. Pio Esposito and Yann Bisseck added further goals to complete a comfortable victory. The match also marked the competitive debut of new arrival John Stones, who came off the bench, while fellow summer signings Djed Spence and Curtis Jones watched from the sidelines.
Elsewhere in Serie A, Como - preparing for their first-ever Champions League campaign after a fourth-place finish last season under Cesc Fàbregas - were held to a 1-1 draw at Udinese, rescued by a second-half equalizer from Greek forward Tasos Douvikas.
Napoli, now under the guidance of Massimiliano Allegri following Antonio Conte's exit, endured a difficult opening period away at Genoa, who dominated proceedings for large stretches. Vitinha went close for the hosts early on, and Scott McTominay's long-range effort for Napoli late in the game was comfortably saved. However, Allegri's decision to introduce Kevin De Bruyne, Antonio Vergara and Noa Lang in a triple substitution transformed the match. De Bruyne combined with Vergara before scoring from close range eight minutes from time, and the pair linked up again five minutes later when Vergara's blocked effort trickled over the line, sealing a 2-0 win for the Neapolitans.
In other Serie A action, Cagliari edged Parma 1-0 thanks to a late strike from Alessandro Romano with ten minutes remaining.
In Germany, Bayern Munich claimed the Supercup with a 2-1 win over hosts Borussia Dortmund, driven by a standout display from Michael Olise, who scored one goal and set up another. Bayern took control in the first half, with new signing Nathaniel Brown finding the net after 28 minutes on his competitive debut, before Olise, who had provided the assist for that goal, added a second in first-half stoppage time. Bayern were missing Jamal Musiala, who recently disclosed he was dealing with a