Bremen miss chance to top Bundesliga, Schalke take first points

Werder Bremen missed the chance to go top of the Bundesliga on Saturday when they lost 2-1 at VfB Stuttgart while Schalke took their first win of the season 1-0 over Mainz.

Anastasios Donis struck against the run of play and Gonzalo Castro hit the winner for Stuttgart after Bremen, who had Milos Veljkovic sent off, were gifted an equalizer by keeper Ron-Robert Zieler's error.

Victory would have lifted them above leaders Bayern Munich, who lost 2-0 at second-placed Hertha Berlin Friday.

Schalke ended a run of five league defeats thanks to Alessandro Schoepf's header against Mainz but remain in the bottom two.

Nuremberg beat Fortuna Dusseldorf 3-0, Hoffenheim lost 2-1 at home to RB Leipzig and Wolfsburg drew 2-2 with Borussia Moenchengladbach. Borussia Dortmund will go top with a win at Bayer Leverkusen in the late game.