Hamburg  - Werder Bremen on Saturday denied Bayern Munich an early championship as they beat Energie Cottbus 2-0 in a Bundesliga match played in Bremen.

Bayern, who are playing at VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday, would have won their 20th Bundesliga title on Saturday had Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 failed to win.

Bayern lead the standings on 66 points with four games to play, while Bremen are on 57 with three matches remaining. Schalke, who were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Hanover 96, are on 55 points.

SV Hamburg and Schalke 04 are fourth and fifth respectively with 51 points.

SV Hamburg, who had not won in their last six matches, managed to get their European aspirations back on track with a 3-1 demolition of struggling Hansa Rostock.

The visitors opened the scoring in the 18th minute through Ivica Olic. Captain Rafael van der Vaart added a second just nine minutes later, before Olic scored his second six minutes after the restart.

Hamburg scored a fourth through Joris Mathijsen, but his effort in the 76th minute was an own goal.

VfB Stuttgart were in similarly devastating form as they beat Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1, with Turkey international Yildiray Basturk scoring two as the home side all but finalized matters in the opening 18 minutes as they raced to a three-goal lead.

Mario Gomez and Cacau scored the others for Stuttgart, while Ioannis Amanatidis pulled one back for a weak Frankfurt side.

In the drop zone, Arminia Bielefeld managed to put some distance between themselves and the relegation places with a 2-0 victory against VfL Bochum.

Both goals were scored in the second half through Andre Mijatovic and Jonas Kamper to take Bielefeld to 32 points.

Last-placed MSV Duisburg, who are at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday, have 26 points, Rostock 27 and Nuremberg, who played to a goalless draw in Dortmund on Friday night have 28.

The final match on Saturday saw Hertha Berlin beat SC Kalrsruhe 3- 1. (dpa)