( dpa )- Italy striker Luca Toni bagged both goals as Bayern Munich downed third-placed Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Saturday to open up a seven-point gap at the top of the German Bundesliga.
The league's leading goalscorer was on hand in the 17th minute after Miroslav Klose cut the ball back from the byline, and headed his second - and 16th of the season - from a Philipp Lahm cross in the 52nd.
Leverkusen nabbed a goal seven minutes from time through Dmitriy Bulykin but it came too late to prevent a Bayern victory.
The victory, following a 2-0 defeat at Energie Cottbus last weekend, puts Bayern onto 53 points with nine matches remaining.
Four players were sent off - two from each side - as second-placed SV Hamburg dropped a point in a 1-1 draw at VfL Wolfsburg to move to 46 points, two ahead of Leverkusen,
Fourth-placed Werder Bremen (43) could move second with a victory by two goals or more at Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday.
VfB Stuttgart earned a 4-1 victory over Hansa Rostock to move sixth, bottom club Duisburg drew 1-1 with Hanover, Borussia Dormund and Karlsruhe finished 1-1, while Nuremberg were held 1-1 by visiting Bochum.