Hamburg - Bayern Munich have joined the list of clubs interested in signing SV Hamburg's Croatia striker Ivica Olic, according to a report to appear in Germany's Bild newspaper.

The German champions have made a firm offer for the player who has also been linked in various media reports with moves to Juventus, Valencia, Villareal and Liverpool, Bild reports.

The mass-circulation daily, in its edition to appear Tuesday, quotes Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as saying Olic would make a perfect partner for strikers Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose.

Hamburg - Five teams are fighting for the last three places in the knockout stage of the Champions League when the last group matches take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

There is also plenty at stake for clubs now out of contention in the Champions League but seeking UEFA Cup participation as third-place finishers in their groups.

Roma, Chelsea, Girondins Bordeaux in Group A, and Panathinaikos and Anorthosis Famagusta in Group B are vying for the remaining three places in the last 16.

Hamburg  - Calls mounted in Germany Saturday for the government to come to the aid of industry as the nation battens down for what may be its worst downturn for 15 years.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected calls for the federal government to increase borrowing and give Germans more to spend. One proposal this week had called for Germans to be given 500-euro (630-dollar) vouchers to spend on slow-selling products.

Hamburg - The fairy tales are over for German football as national team manager Oliver Bierhoff urged hard work for future success in an interview published on Saturday.

"We must realize that the summer fairy tale, and the summer fairy tale 'reloaded' - if you want to give Euro 2008 this name - is over ... We must be down to earth again," Bierhoff told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.