BERLIN, 29 October 2004 — two late goals from 10-man Werder Bremen scuppered VfB Stuttgart’s bid to top the Bundesliga on Wednesday as the visitors escaped with a 2-1 win as hat tricks helped Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen to victories.
Paraguayan Nelson Valdez headed the winner for Bremen 10 minutes from time after Miroslav Klose had put the champions back in contention with a deft back heel after 78 minutes.
Second-placed Stuttgart had taken the lead against the champions just before the break with a Mathieu Delpierre header on his debut after joining from French club Lille.
Bremen had midfielder Ludovic Magnin sent off in the 66th minute for a foul but still managed to snatch the victory. Hamburg thrashed SC Freiburg 4-0 thanks to a Sergej Barbarez hat-trick after Emile Mpenza had opened the scoring and Andrej Voronin gave Leverkusen a 3-2 win over Arminia Bielefeld.
