Italy striker Luca Toni scored twice to steer Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to a 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen yesterday.

Bayern (53) went seven points clear at the top after second-placed Hamburg drew 1-1 at Wolfsburg in a match featuring four red cards in the final 10 minutes. Leverkusen are third with 44 points from 25 games.

Toni broke free from his marker to convert a short pass from Miroslav Klose in the 17th minute in front of a sell-out crowd of 69,000 at Bayern's Allianz Arena.

The towering striker doubled the lead on 59, heading in a Philipp Lahm cross at the far post as the league's top scorer took his tally for the season to 16 goals.

Bayern controlled the game but were let down by poor finishing from Klose and Lukas Podolski.

"The team performance was outstanding," coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told reporters. "We dominated them, kept the pressure on. We had four chances for a third goal but were a bit frivolous."

Leverkusen pulled a goal back in the 83rd minute when Russia striker Dmitri Bulykin latched on to a through ball from Paul Freier to beat keeper Oliver Kahn.

Kahn had produced a brilliant save in the 29th minute, diving to his right to stop a deflected shot from Bernd Schneider.

"Leverkusen played well in the first half but they only got that one chance that Kahn stopped," said Hitzfeld.

Hamburg, unbeaten in nine matches, lost ground at the top after the north German derby at Wolfsburg.

The visitors went ahead after 14 minutes when Bastian Reinhardt headed in a corner. Danijel Ljuboja grabbed the equaliser for Wolfsburg in the 52nd.

Wolfsburg's Alexander Madlung and Hamburg substitute Vincent Kompany were sent off for second cautions in the 80th and 87th minutes respectively.

Grafite, of Wolfsburg, and Hamburg's Joris Mathijsen also received red cards after clashing in stoppage time.