Bayern blast for Kuffour

A stinging attack on Ghana's Samuel Kuffour by Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer has further soured relations between the central defender and the Bavarian giants.

Beckenbauer singled out Kuffour as the man responsible for the latest defeat which finally saw Bayern overtaken at the top of the Bundesliga after only taking one point from their last three games.

"We lost the match because of three individual mistakes by one player, and now the title's not in our hands any more.

"We have to rely on other teams' results," Beckenbauer said according to onefootball.com.

Kuffour struggled all game to cope with Schalke's forward pairing of Belgian Emile M'penza and Dane Ebbe Sand, who scored a hat-trick.

Managing director Uli Hoeness, who has constantly sniped at Kuffour in recent weeks for being distracted by a possible move to Barcelona, also put the boot in.

"Kuffour believes he is not earning enough money and is always worried about his contract.

"He seems to be obsessed with that, and I believe he is suffering from a mental block.

"If he keeps on playing like against Schalke, there is no reason to pay him even a single deutschmark more."

Whatever the demerits of Kuffour's performance, it is a powerful first shot by Bayern before discussions open over a new contract, now that the 24-year-old has apparently rejected the chance of a move to Spanish giants Barcelona.

Kuffour also fell out with Bayern over that issue last month, with the club fining him ?3,100 for allegedly discussing a move with Barca representative Bernd Schuster over a meal.

Kuffour stormed: "I am no slave. I can go out to dinner with whoever I want to," but he still ended up paying the fine.