Confident Bremen ready for Bayern

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BREMEN, Germany -- Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich are in the sort of form to produce a classic when they meet in the Bundesliga on Saturday -- provided their powers of recovery are up to it.

Werder and Bayern both scored big wins last weekend to join Schalke 04 in a three-way tie for the lead, each with a modest 13 points from seven matches.

They followed up with excellent victories in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Bayern, German champions for the past two seasons, won 1-0 away to Sporting Lisbon to take a big step towards a place in the last 16.

Werder beat Levski Sofia 2-0 at home to stay in the hunt for qualification from their tough group, headed by Chelsea and Barcelona.

Werder had the easier evening of it and that might just make the difference when Germany's big two clash at the Weserstadion.

Thomas Schaaf's side should also be able to welcome back Frank Baumann to beef up the midfield.

"This was an important win for us ahead of the weekend," said Schaaf. "It should be good for our self-belief."

Bayern had to play almost the entire second half of their match a man short, after Bastian Schweinsteiger, their goalscorer, was red-carded in the 47th minute.

Schalke will be waiting to take advantage and go clear at the top should the match end in a draw.

Schalke are at home to Hanover 96 in another of Saturday's matches and will feel confident of another win, despite injury doubts over Brazilian playmaker Lincoln and striker Kevin Kuranyi.

Demoralized

A Hamburg SV side in demoralized form will continue their quest for a first win of the season when they travel to take on Bayer Leverkusen in one of two games on Sunday.

Hamburg were hammered 4-1 at Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday, a third defeat in three games in the competition.

They are second from bottom of the Bundesliga and the club's injury crisis took a further turn for the worse during the match when Raphael Wicky suffered a calf injury that will keep him out for around a month.

"We're going through some tough times but we must go through them together," said coach Thomas Doll, who retains the support of the club despite the team's wretched form.

"We just have to work harder."

Borussia Dortmund get the eighth round of league matches underway when they host VfL Bochum on Friday.

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