Sporting briefs

Bundesliga: Hamburg trimmed Bayern Munich's lead in the Bundesliga to eight points by winning 2-1 away to Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday. Piotr Trochowski and Daniel van Buyten got the goals for Hamburg, who had slipped off the pace after defeats in their previous two away games. With 22 games played, Bayern have 55 points, with Hamburg's victory taking them back up to second on 47. Stuttgart won 2-1 at home to Mainz yesterday, a first victory for Armin Veh since he replaced Giovanni Trapattoni as coach on February 10.

Bayern: Bayern Munich are favourites to win the Champions League because of the winter break in the Bundesliga, says Juventus coach Fabio Capello. "Bayern Munich are, in my mind, the favourites to win the Champions League," Capello told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "It's quite possible that we'll meet Bayern in the final. I'd even say that Bayern are our greatest challenge to winning the Champions League." Capello's team play at Werder Bremen on Wednesday in the knock-out round. Bayern Munich host Milan tomorrow.

Ajax: Czech defender Zdenek Grygera and compatriot Tomas Galasek will miss Wednesday's Champions League first knockout round game against Inter because of injury, Ajax said yesterday. Grygera suffered a calf injury during a training session on Friday. He will be out for four weeks, also missing the return leg in Italy on March 14. Galasek pulled up with a thigh injury during Ajax's 6-0 drubbing of RBC Roosendaal and is out for Wednesday's match.

Smith: Manchester United's Alan Smith had an operation yesterday on the broken leg and dislocated ankle he suffered during the 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Liverpool. "The operation was a success. Alan will remain in hospital for a couple of days," a United spokesman said. The 25-year-old midfielder suffered the horrific injury to his left leg when he landed badly trying to block a shot by defender John Arne Riise late in Saturday's fifth-round match at Anfield. Smith's agent Alex Black played down fears that the midfielder might not play again, saying: "Certainly, from speaking to Alan, that's not been indicated to him at all. It's hard to tell exactly how bad the damage will be to the ligaments on the ankle until it has all calmed down."

Australia: Archie Thompson has been added to Australia's squad for Wednesday's Asian Cup qualifier against Bahrain after being released by PSV. Thompson was originally overlooked for the qualifier in Manama because it clashed with his Dutch club's European Champions League match but was cleared yesterday to join the Australians.

Katanec: Slovenia's Srecko Katanec signed a two-year-contract as Macedonia coach last weekend. The former Sampdoria midfielder became only the second foreigner to coach the Balkan country's team after Serbian Slobodan Santrac, who resigned last August. "It's a big honour to be named as head coach of Macedonia," said Katanec, who was unveiled at a news conference in Skopje. Macedonia are in Euro 2008 qualifying Group G with England, Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia and Andorra.

Ligue 1: Metz vs Marseille 1-0.