Wolfsburg warm-up for Moscow by hammering Bremen

Kruse said he was glad to get back to football after the horror scenes from Paris and the postponed Germany-Holland friendly in Hannover last Tuesday due to a bomb scare.

"Of course you have a few thoughts after a week like that, but we have to go out as role models and try and be as bold as possible and not be put off by what has happened," said Kruse.

"Today was a lot of work, but a step in the right direction."

In Europe, Wolfsburg are third in Group B, but just a point behind leaders Manchester United ahead of their penultimate group game at bottom side CSKA Moscow.

There was a minute's silence at all Bundesliga grounds this weekend -- the players also wore black armbands -- out of respect for the Paris victims.

Stuttgart's 4-0 thumping at home to Augsburg was delayed by 15 minutes due to the tightened security checks at stadiums across the country.

There were no such problems at Wolfsburg's Volkswagen Arena as Bremen gifted their hosts the opener when defender Alejandro Galvez slid the ball into his own net on 11 minutes.

Kruse put Wolfsburg 2-0 up at the break by heading home a free-kick then Portugal international Vierinha netted on 56 minutes.

The floodgates opened when French defensive midfielder Josuha Guilavogui, on for the injured Brazil star Luiz Gustavo, stabbed home his shot on 67 minutes.

Kruse then set up Netherlands striker Bas Dost on 78 minutes before completing the scoring three minutes from time by converting a cross.

The result leaves Wolfsburg five points behind second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who lost 3-1 at Hamburg on Friday, while leaders Bayern Munich play at Schalke on Saturday evening.

Borussia Moenchengladbach are up to fourth as Andre Schubert celebrated his first match in charge as head coach with a 2-1 win at home to Hanover 96.

Having taken over in September when Borussia were bottom of the table, the 42-year-old has been promoted from a caretaker role after steering Gladbach to seven wins and a draw in his eight league games.

Gladbach took the lead when Guinea midfielder Ibrahima Traore was left unmarked on the edge of the area with half an hour gone.

Hanover equalised through Poland international Artur Sobiech on 65 minutes, but Brazil striker Raffael scored the winner six minutes from time.

Ex-Manchester United star Javier Hernandez scored his first brace for Bayer Leverkusen in their 3-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Christmas came early for Hernandez in Frankfurt when Eintracht centre-back David Abraham allowed a cross to roll between his legs and the striker stabbed home on 11 minutes.

The Mexico striker doubled his tally on 39 minutes when Hakan Calhanoglu's pass split the Frankfurt defence.

Hernandez did the rest, but it finished 2-1 at the break when Serbian midfielder Slobodan Medojevic headed home on the stroke of half-time.

Calhanoglu sealed the win with Leverkusen's third goal on 72 minutes.

Augsburg climbed off the bottom of the table with an emphatic 4-0 win at VfB Stuttgart as woeful defending by the hosts allowed the visitors to take an early 2-0 lead with both goals by midfielder Alexander Esswein.

Defender Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker grabbed a third before former South Korea captain Koo Ja-Cheol scored Augsburg's fourth when he hit the top right-hand corner from 10 metres out on 54 minutes.

The Rhine derby finished goalless as Mainz drew at Cologne as the hosts abandoned plans to play in a special-edition carnival-themed shirt out of respect for those who died in Paris.