Almeida strikes twice in a minute

BREMEN, Germany -- Werder Bremen striker Hugo Almeida scored twice in 54 seconds in an impressive 4-1 defeat of German champions Stuttgart.

Hertha Berlin's 3-2 defeat of Borussia Dortmund sent them to the top of the table, as Bayern Munich play Karlsruhe on Sunday.

Almeida was on target twice in the first four minutes and after a quarter of an hour Bremen led 3-1. Mario Gomez scored for Stuttgart after 13 minutes but Boubacar Sanogo quickly restored the two-goal advantage.

Brazilian Diego added Bremen's fourth a minute from time.

Last season's champions now lie 13th.

Hertha came from behind for their fourth victory of the campaign. Croatian Mladen Petric put Dortmund in front after 31 minutes but Marko Pantelic equalized with his fourth in three matches, two minutes before the break.

Lucio and Solomon Okoronkwo sent Hertha 3-1 ahead before Petric notched his second two minutes from the end.

Bielefeld toppled from second spot to sixth by losing 3-0 at Schalke, Kevin Kuranyi, Gerald Asamoah and Rafinha finding the net.

Sebastien Haehnge and Enrico Kern were the marksmen as Hansa Rostock achieved their first win of the season by beating Duisburg 2-0

Hamburg captain Rafael van de Vaart scored the game's only goal, against Nuremberg in the 53rd minute E-mail to a friend