Naldo hat-trick as Bremen hit six

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BERLIN, Germany -- Brazilian defender Naldo scored a hat-trick as Bundesliga leaders Werder Bremen powered to a 6-2 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

Stuttgart stayed on the title trail by edging out Bochum 1-0 with a late Marco Streller goal, while Bayern Munich also kept within striking distance thanks to a nervy 2-1 victory over stubborn Energie Cottbus.

With 16 games played, and just one more round of matches before the Bundesliga's six-week mid-season break, Werder lead the standings with 33 points.

Stuttgart climb to second on 31, while champions Bayern, in fourth, join third-placed Schalke on the 30-point mark.

Schalke can climb back level with Werder on 33 points if they win Sunday's Ruhr Valley derby at home to Borussia Dortmund.

Werder, who bowed out of the Champions League after a 2-0 defeat at Barcelona on Tuesday, were clearly in no mood for mourning and moved ahead when Naldo slid in a shot from an Ivan Klasnic pass in the third minute.

A mistake from goalkeeper Tim Wiese gave Frankfurt an easy equaliser. He came out to clear a free-kick from Albert Streit but missed the ball entirely, giving Marco Russ the chance to head in.

Werder swept back on the attack and moved ahead in the 11th minute when Daniel Jensen took the ball from the toes of Diego and squeezed in a shot from six meters.

Naldo got his second just past the half-hour mark with a header from a Torsten Frings free-kick and the center-back struck with a free-kick of his own three minutes after the break. The game drifted for a long time before a goal from Sotiris Kyrgiakos got one back for Frankfurt.

That merely sparked a brutal response from Werder, who added further strikes from Jurica Vranjes and Diego in the last four minutes.

Bayern found it tougher going against Cottbus at the Allianz Arena but they kept plugging away and were rewarded when Bastian Schweinsteiger let fly from 30 meters just before the break.

Goalkeeper Tomislav Piplica attempted to punch clear but instead the ball hit him in the face and flew into the net.

Steffen Baumgart was left unmarked to head in an equaliser in the 52nd minute but Daniel van Buyten headed in a Schweinsteiger free-kick two minutes later to get Bayern back on track.

Oliver Kahn safeguarded victory for Bayern when he made a brilliant flying save from a deflected Vlad Munteanu shot with nine minutes to go.