Hamburg picked up a major confidence boost with three weeks to go before the start of the new season by winning a quadrangular competition with Bayern Munich, Schalke and Stuttgart in Gelsenkirchen.

After defeating Bayern 1-0 yesterday, they cruised past Stuttgart 3-0 today thanks to goals from Collin Benjamin, Jonathan Pitroipa and Mladen Petric.

The victory earned Bruno Labbadia his first piece of silverware since taking over as coach of the northern Germany club, but perhaps more importantly, it will have sent out a warning that they are serious title contenders for the upcoming season.

Bayern take third
The same can certainly be said of Bayern, who responded well from their defeat yesterday to beat hosts Schalke 2-1.Young defender Breno put Louis van Gaal's side ahead early on, with an own goal from Benedikt Howedes doubling their lead.

I saw a young player who I really liked.
Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal on Breno

Halil Altintop scored the consolation for the Royal Blues, whose new coach Felix Magath saw his side lose for the second time in front of 38,820 fans inside the Arena AufSchalke.

Van Gaal changed all 11 of his players from yesterday's defeat to Hamburg, playing Alexander Baumjohann in the position earmarked for Franck Ribery behind the two strikers, who on this occasion were Thomas Muller and Ivica Olic. And he was most impressed with their reaction, particularly the performance of Breno.

"I saw a young player who I really liked," he quipped afterwards, referring to the 19-year-old Brazilian.