Werder Bremen suffered their second defeat of the season when they lost 3-2 at Hannover 96 on Sunday thanks to a Mohammed Abdellaoue hat-trick to stay three points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
In the only other match played on Sunday, Schalke 04’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored twice in their 2-1 win at Hamburg SV to lift them to fourth on 15 points, four behind Bayern.
Second-placed Werder had scorer Marko Arnautovic sent off in the 78th minute for stepping on Sergio Pinto.
Photo: EPA
Bremen were quickly a goal down when Norwegian Abdellaoue converted a third-minute penalty.
The 25-year-old forward added another goal in the 38th minute, before Austrian Arnautovic pulled one back on the stroke of halftime when he rifled in a low shot.
Hannover, who also won their Europa League match against Vorskla Poltava in Ukraine last week, responded on the hour with Abdellaoue completing his hat-trick and scoring his sixth league goal of the season when he tapped in a cross from close range.
Claudio Pizarro, who had hit the post in the 48th minute, thundered in a volley with seven minutes left to give his 10-man team some hope, but they failed to find the equalizer.
Schalke, with new coach Huub Stevens on the bench, took a 13th-minute lead when Huntelaar wrong-footed Hamburg goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny with a header.
The hosts battled back when Croat Mladen Petric fired in from the left for the equalizer.
Spaniard Raul came close for Schalke early in the second half, but Huntelaar was on target in the 73rd minute.
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