Bayern crash to their first defeat

BERLIN, Germany -- Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez scored twice as Bundesliga champions Stuttgart sent Bayern Munich crashing to their first defeat of the season, 3-1 at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion.

Bayern's lead at the top of the table was clipped to a single point as Werder Bremen hammered Karlsruhe 4-0 and Hamburg drew 1-1 at Schalke to be level on 27 points.

Gomez, who scored both goals in Stuttgart's midweek 4-2 Champions League loss to Lyon, struck in the 10th minute, diverting a cross into the Bayern net off his hip.

It was only the fifth goal conceded by Bayern in 13 league outings, but after half an hour their defense was pierced again when Turkish international Yildiray Basturk unleashed an unstoppable 30-meter effort.

Three minutes before the break Brazilian Cacau's bicycle kick was steered into Gomez' path by Roberto Hilbert and the German international made it 3-0.

Lukas Podolski, who scored twice in Bayern's UEFA Cup draw against Bolton on Thursday, made way for fellow German International Miroslav Klose in the Bayern line-up after the interval, but things got worse for the visitors when Brazilian Lucio was sent off after 70 minutes.

He lashed out at Swiss defender Ludovic Magnin.

Italian striker Luca Toni notched an 86th minute goal for Bayern who had not previously lost in any competition this season.

"Mentally, my team weren't there today," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.

"Stuttgart were far superior and more aggressive. Above all, the first quarter of an hour was disappointing. We will look at the game and talk about it, but Stuttgart deserved the win."

The victory sent Stuttgart up to eighth after their disappointing start to the season.

Coach Armin Veh said: "We had planned to start aggressively. The early goal gave us some security and it gave us a lot of confidence and the performance grew from there."

Brazilian midfielder Diego struck with two first-half goals as Bremen overcame fourth-placed Karlsruhe. He was on target after 25 and 45 minutes.

His fellow countryman Naldo scored in the 76th minute, 10 minutes after Portuguese Hugo Almeida netted the third.

Hamburg are in third after coming from behind to take a point at Schalke.

Defender Mladen Krstajic headed Schalke into the lead after 12 minutes and Hamburg's Croatian striker Ivica Olic replied with a header after 35 minutes.

Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones suffered an ankle injury which has dashed his hopes of making his Germany debut next weekend.

The 26-year-old was named in Joachim Loew's squad for the two remaining Euro 2008 qualifiers against Cyprus next Saturday and Wales four days later, but has had to withdraw.

Jones was injured after 25 minutes and a post-match scan revealed that the injury would prevent him from joining the international squad.

Hansa Rostock striker Enrico Kern bagged a hat-trick as his side beat Energie Cottbus 3-2 to rise to 14th in the table. Da Silva and Ervin Skela scored for Cottbus.

Hertha Berlin's Brazilian striker Andre Lima scored three minutes from time in the 1-0 win over Hanover at a snow-covered Olympic Stadium.

Eintracht Frankfurt drew 1-1 at Borussia Dortmund. E-mail to a friend