Luca party-piece boosts Bayern’s title hopes

Who else but Luca Toni? In a match which represented another personal milestone, the Italian World Cup winner almost single-handedly kept alive Bayern’s dream of retaining their Bundesliga crown. The striker used his 50th German top flight appearance to net his 36th league goal for Munich, underscoring his outstanding penalty box quality and sealing a narrow but fully merited 1-0 victory away to Arminia Bielefeld.

The man who finished as the Bundesliga’s leading scorer last term now has 12 goals this season, ahead of strike partner Miroslav Klose on ten, although the Germany international is currently out injured. “The way he masters and performs his job as lone striker is fantastic. He really does it well,” head coach Jürgen Klinsmann enthused. Toni has been obliged to shoulder the full burden up front due to the injury-enforced absence of both Klose and Lukas Podolski.