Brazilian defender Naldo scored a hat-trick as free-scoring Werder Bremen bounced back from Champions League elimination with a 6-2 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
The victory in Frankfurt moved Bremen to 33 points at the top of the German Bundesliga, two points clear of VfB Stuttgart who scraped a late 1-0 win over visiting Bochum, while champions Bayern Munich maintained the pressure with a 2-1 defeat of Energie Cottbus.
Bremen showed no signs of a negative reaction to Tuesday's 2-0 defeat at Barcelona as Naldo struck twice and Daniel Jensen was also on target in the first half before the Brazilian nailed his third shortly after the break.
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Frankfurt had levelled Naldo's third-minute opening goal when Marco Russ headed in a minute later. But after Jensen struck from close range in the 11th minute, Naldo headed in a Torsten Frings free-kick just after the half hour and was again on target with a direct free-kick three minutes after the break.
Sortirios Kirgiakos gave the home side hope with a header from a corner six minutes from time, but Bremen 's Jurica Vranjes made it 5-2 in the 86th minute and midfielder Diego completed the rout in the final minute.
Bayern Munich, meanwhile, earned a 2-1 win over Energie Cottbus courtesy of goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Daniel van Buyten.
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Schweinsteiger netted with a long-range effort three minutes before half-time before Cottbus leveled seven minutes after the break when Steffen Baumgartner headed home.
Bayern immediately struck back, with central defender van Buyten heading in a Schweinsteiger free-kick two minutes later.
VfB Stuttgart kept their title hopes alive with a 1-0 win over Bochum, thanks to a scrambled goal three minutes from time by substitute Marco Streller.
Struggling SV Hamburg were held to a goalless draw at home by Nuremberg to leave Thomas Doll's side still without a home win this season.
Borussia Moenchengladbach were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom club Mainz who grabbed a point with a goal a minute from time from Ranisav Jonanovic after Christian Demirtas had put through his own goal in the 17th minute.
Hanover and Arminia Bielefeld shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in which Marcel Djeng rifled in an opening goal for the visitors in the 67th minute only for Thomas Bdraric to equalize from close range a minute later.
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