BERLIN (AFP) - Germany's player of 2007, Mario Gomez, announced his return to form with a hat-trick in just 14 minutes to book VfB Stuttgart's place in the German Cup quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old has been out of action since injuring ribs at the end of November, but he struck three first-half goals Wednesday as Stuttgart beat Werder Bremen's reserves 3-2 to reach the German Cup's quarter-finals.

Having led 3-0 at the break, Werder's reserves fought back, but Stuttgart were always in control.

In Wednesday's all-Bundesliga clash, Schalke 04 went down 5-3 on penalties to VfL Wolfsburg after the Royal Blues conceded a goal in the 91st minute and the hosts fought hard to book their place in the last eight.

Bundesliga title contenders Hamburg made light work of their third division opponents Rot-Weiss Essen as captain Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring in a 3-0 win.

Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld suffered an upset in extra time when second division Carl Zeiss Jena's Czech midfielder, Jan Simak, slotted home a penalty in the 116th minute to put his side in the last eight.

On Tuesday league leaders Bayern Munich booked their quarter-final berth with a convincing 5-2 win at third division minnows Wuppertal.

Germany striker Miroslav Klose netted twice in the first half for Bayern, but the hosts gave the German giants a surprise by drawing level twice to make it 2-2 at half-time.

Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten, Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni and Turkish midfielder Hamit Altintop bagged second-half goals to put the result beyond doubt.

Bayern's league rivals Werder Bremen crashed out of the competition when they were beaten 2-1 at Borussia Dortmund.

Second-division 1860 Munich enjoyed a stunning fightback when they scored three goals in just six minutes as they turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win at Alemannia Aachen and sealed the win two minutes from time.

Second division Hoffenheim claimed the scalp of Bundesliga strugglers Hansa Rostock with a comfortable 2-1 win.