Bremen had opened up a six point gap on their title rivals with a 6-1 demolition of Mainz 05 on Friday night but Bayern moved up to second and cut Bremen's lead in half with this victory.

Bayern may not be playing with the swagger of Bremen, who have plundered 15 goals in their last three league matches, including a 3-1 win over Bayern last week, but the champions were in command against Frankfurt.

The game was over as a contest by half-time with goals from Dutch pair Roy Makaay and Mark van Bommel.

Bayern even had the luxury of missing a penalty from Peruvian forward Claudio Pizarro on the stroke of half-time.

But it is Bremen who are impressing most and they have bagged six goals in each of their last two away games, beating Bochum 6-0 prior to last weekend's top-of-the-table victory.

This win over third-from-bottom Mainz was due in large part to the return to goalscoring form of Germany forward Miroslav Klose, who notched a brace, and the continuing mastery of Brazilian playmaker Diego.

"He is playing in a completely different dimension," was the verdict from the beaten team's management after the match.

Klose had gone 618 minutes without a goal but his partnership with Diego is starting to click into gear, the Brazilian finding a new lease of life in the Bundesliga after struggling with Porto in the Portuguese league for the last couple of seasons.Bremen now have 19 points from nine matches, three clear of Bayern and Schalke 04, who travel to Stuttgart on Sunday.

They could draw level on points but have no chance of overhauling Bremen's vastly superior goal difference advantage.

In other games, Nuremberg remain fifth after they were held 1-1 by Borussia Dortmund while early pacesetters Hertha Berlin dropped to sixth after a disappointing 2-0 reverse at Energie Cottbus, the only team from the former East Germany in the top flight.

Cottbus moved up to fourth in the table from 11th at the start of the day.

Hamburg's troubles continued as they were held 0-0 at home by Hannover 96 and remain hovering over the relegation zone.

Bayer Leverkusen beat Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 while rock bottom Bochum were beaten 1-0 at home by VfL Wolfsburg.