Hugo Almeida scored a hat-trick and was also sent off as SV Werder Bremen halted their slide down the Budesliga table with a 3-0 victory against strugglers FC St Pauli.

Almeida took all of 52 seconds to put Thomas Schaaf's team ahead, running on to a diagonal through ball and slotting past Thomas Kessler. The Portuguese international doubled the lead (20) after Marko Marin had led a quick break and completed his treble on 64 minutes when he fired through Kessler's legs for his ninth league goal of the season. Markus Thorandt was dismissed in added time for a challenge on Bremen captain Torsten Frings.

Bremen sit 11th after a first win in five league games, while St Pauli - who hit the woodwork twice - have lost five of their last six and lie two points above third-bottom 1. FC Köln, who drew 1-1 with VfL Wolfsburg. Cícero (81) denied Köln a vital home win which would have lifted them out of the danger zone, Milivoje Novakovič having opened the scoring six minutes after the restart.

Results

Standings

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