Hamburg - Bayer Leverkusen moved top of the German Bundesliga Tuesday with a 2-0 victory at Werder Bremen, while Schalke go third with a facile win at SC Karlsruhe.

Second-half scores from Arturo Vidal and Manuel secured Leverkusen's fourth away win of the season and sees Bruno Labbadia's side move onto 21 points, two clear of TSG Hoffenheim, who play lowly VfL Bochum on Wednesday.

While Leverkusen celebrated the club's 1,000th Bundesliga match in perfect style, Thomas Schaaf's Bremen have now gone six matches without a win.

"We didn't take our chances in the first half and didn't do enough to win the game," said Bremen midfielder Torsten Frings. "We seem to be conceding weak goals and aren't doing it up front."

Schalke 04 moved up to third in the table, four points behind Leverkusen, thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win at Karlsruhe.

Brazilian Marcelo Bordon opened the scoring on the quarter-hour for Fred Rutten's side with a powerful shot from 14 metres, after being set up by Kevin Kuranyi.

Joshua Kennedy almost equalized for the home side a minute later, but Heiko Westermann cleared the danger. Almost immediately, Kuranyi made it 2-0 for Schalke, heading home a Jefferson Farfan free kick to register his fifth goal of the season.

Farfan ensured the three points with Schalke's third midway through the second half, after being set up by Kuranyi.

Karlsruhe were reduced to 10 men when captain Mike Franz was sent off after picking up a second yellow card, and the defender will miss Saturday's clash with Hoffenheim due to suspension.

"We knew that if we kept playing as we were, the result would come. That was a small step forward today," said Schalke defender Westermann.

VfL Wolfsburg's 3-0 victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach sees Felix Magath's side go fifth in the table.

Grafite put Wolfsburg ahead from the penalty spot five minutes before the break. Alexander Madlung made it 2-0 to Wolfsburg with a header 10 minutes after the restart, and Zvjezdan Misimovic completed the scoring for the northern German team with his side's second penalty in the second half.

"It was important that we showed we can also keep a clean sheet," said Magath, whose side next play Leverkusen on Friday.

In the night's other match, Energie Cottbus remain bottom after playing out a 1-1 draw against Arminia Bielefeld.

On Wednesday, Hoffenheim can return to the top with a win against Bochum, while Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich visit in-form Eintracht Frankfurt hoping to move within three points of Leverkusen.

SV Hamburg will be hoping to bounce back from the 3-0 weekend hammering by Hoffenheim when Martin Jol's side take on VfB Stuttgart and Cologne play Borussia Dortmund. dpa