Ivorian striker Boubacar Sanogo put Bremen in front on the quarter-hour mark before Hamburg skipper Rafael van der Vaart leveled the score in the 61st minute.

Petri Pasanen notched home three minutes later to send Bremen to the league's summit on temporary basis with 33 points.

Bayern Munich, who will face Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday, are second on 31 points, one ahead of third-placed Hamburg.

Egyptian forward Zidan came on as a substitute eight minutes past the hour mark but couldn’t help his side to victory.

Elsewhere, defending champions Stuttgart failed to maintain their recent revival following a surprising 2-1 home defeat to Borussia Dortmund.

An own goal by Mathieu Delpierre after 11 minutes gave Dortmund the lead before Fernando Meira equalized in the 35th minute.

Mladen Petric secured the victory 11 minutes from time as Stuttgart failed to win their fifth successive match.