Luca Toni bagged his first Bundesliga hat-trick to fire Bayern Munich back into a three-point lead at the top of the German league as his second-half strikes gave them a 3-0 win at Hanover on Sunday.
The 30-year-old overtook Borussia Dortmund's Mladen Petric to return to the top of the Bundesliga scoring chart with 13 goals as the Italian World Cup winner's treble killed off Hanover's challenge.
Toni has scored 22 goals in all competitions for Bayern this season since his 11 million euros (US$16 million) switch from Italy's Fiorentina last summer and his second-half goals were well taken.
"Toni is a quality forward who works tirelessly in front of goal and showed why he is a World Cup winner," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld after the final whistle.
Toni began his scoring spree with a superb turn on the volley after a header from Mark van Bommel on 58 minutes and then stabbed home a pass to make it two on 64 minutes before he lobbed the keeper on 82 minutes.
The win puts Bayern on 43 points -- three clear of second-placed Werder Bremen -- and for Hitzfeld there was the bonus of a good performance from Germany international Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Hamburg went back to third in the table after their 3-0 win at home to VfL Bochum with Czech midfielder David Jarolim scoring two second-half goals.
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