London  - Defiant Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said that his side deserved more than the point they earned in Monday's 0-0 draw with West Ham United.

The point was enough to put Liverpool atop the English Premier League, one point clear of Chelsea, with champions Manchester United another five points back, albeit with a game in hand.

After Chelsea's defeat on Sunday by Arsenal, Monday's draw was a missed opportunity for Liverpool, who have now drawn back-to-back matches at home in the league.

Berlin - The women's German Open tournament appears to be leaving Berlin for another host city, possibly Warsaw, as tennis in the country faces another setback.

News reports on Monday in Berlin said that the Qatar tennis federation, which runs the event, could have lost interest in the event which is being downgraded in the new
2009 calendar.

The reports said that the Qataris have not paid several bills and that ticket sales for the May 2009 edition is yet to start. The tournament website was also no longer available.

Hamburg - Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are seeking to sign Ukrainian midfielder Anatoly Timoschuk from Zenit St Petersburg and are ready to release frustrated forward Lukas Podolski, general manager Uli Hoeness said.

Hoeness, who met Timoschuk for talks in Munich on Sunday, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Monday that Timoschuk was a possible signing for next season.

"We had informational talks on a possible transfer from July 1, 2009," Hoeness said.

Hamburg - In the Ruhr area city of Gelsenkirchen, they've been waiting 50 years. In Berlin, it's been even longer.

Passions run high in the former, one of the traditional heartlands of German football, where a pall of gloom hangs over Schalke 04 after what is turning out to be a disappointing Bundesliga season.

Another disappointing season, one could say, for despite huge ambitions - and a huge outlay on new players - Schalke's last league title was in 1958, before the Bundesliga was formed in 1962.

Vaduz, Liechtenstein - Pierre Littbarski has left a personal hell in Iran for the tax haven of Liechtenstein and enjoys the tranquillity there.

The German coach signed at the Vaduz club last month after fleeing Iran's Saipa Tehran in October because he was caught in a power struggle between club boss Hamid Sadschadi and national team coach Ali Daei.

"I basically fled Iran, saying I would meet my wife in Dubai," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

But the World Cup winner from 1990 insisted that not everything was bad in Iran: "The people there are very friendly and football-crazy."

Copenhagen - The new sponsor for the CSC team of Danish ex-cyclist Bjarne Riis is bankrupt, reports said Monday.

Asger Jensby, chairman and co-owner of IT Factory, told Danish news agency Ritzau that the company is to file for bankruptcy.

A warrant has been filed for the group's chief executive who is suspected of fraud, the report said.

As of 2009, IT Factory was to have become co-sponsor of the racing team along with online investment bank Saxo.

US-based IT company CSC has been the team's main sponsor for the past eight years but in March said it was pulling out of professional cycling.