On Saturday Bayern Munich custodian Kahn spilled a harmless pass from Brazilian Ailton allowing Ivan Klasnic to open the scoring for Werder Bremen and help them to dethrone the champions with a 3-1 win at the Olympic Stadium.

The embattled Kahn said he was ready to give up his captain's armband after a costly blunder.

"If I have to take less responsibility to do my goalkeeping job well again, then I'll do it," he told Tuesday's issue of Munich daily tz.

Kahn's much-publicised blunders are also worrying his national coach Rudi Voller.

"It is an error that does not normally even happen to him in training," said Voller.

"Kahn blunders in an important match once again," headlined Bild.

"The Ronaldo goal against Brazil, the Roberto Carlos error against Real Madrid and now this."

Indeed the 34-year-old is developing a reputation for making mistakes when the stakes are at their highest.

Spilling Rivaldo's shot in the 2002 World Cup final defeat by Brazil will haunt Kahn for the rest of his days but particularly worrying for Germany and Bayern is that such errors are creeping in more and more.

In Bayern's two biggest games of the campaign a Kahn calamity has cost Munich dear.

Firstly there was the Champions League match in February with Real Madrid when Kahn let Roberto Carlos's strike slip up under his body to make it 1-1.

The away goal helped Real eliminate their German rivals in the Spanish capital.

Then came the howler on Saturday which calmed Bremen's nerves and left Kahn's earlier comments looking foolish.

"We will be champions because I will not concede any more goals," Kahn had claimed in the build-up.

The knives have come out for the former Karslruhe man in the domestic media with suggestions that the German captain should not be first choice for the 2004 European championships in Portugal, as he could let the errors play on his mind.

"No that will not happen to him. He is too experienced," added a supportive Voller.

Kahn's face was plastered all over the tabloids on Monday with it coming to light that he had split with his girlfriend Verena, 23, after the match.

There had been claims that Verena had took away Kahn's focus with the pair seen together in nightclubs and the Munich beer festival.

The German international has also been plugging his forthcoming autobiography entitled 'number one' which has proved an inept title of late.

Kahn will aim to bounce back and show that he truly is the number one when Germany travel to Portugal for the 2004 European Championships in June.

However, another costly error could see him stuck with the nickname 'Calamity Kahn.'