A performance of great authority with a couple of ruthless moments after half-time was enough for Bayern to seal victory and swap places with a toothless Bayer Leverkusen side on Saturday.
The 19,200 full house at the BayArena, open to the elements on all sides due to reconstruction work at the stadium, saw a first half full of neat football and with chances at both ends, Leverkusen's Henrique hitting the bar with a header and Franck Ribery seeing his effort hacked off the line.
The champions came out for the second half in fighting mood and Luca Toni duly nodded his side into the lead on the hour, before Miro Klose wrapped up the win from the ever-impressive Ribery's sublime through pass eight minutes from time.
The result means the champions go second in the Bundesliga on 31 points from 15 games, three behind leaders Hoffenheim, who comfortably beat Bielefeld 3-0 on Saturday but now visit Munich next Friday in a head-to-head showdown at the top of the table.
Single change for FCB
FCB boss Jürgen Klinsmann made one change to the side which beat Steaua Bucharest in midweek, Andi Ottl deputising in the enforcer role for flu victim Mark van Bommel. Martin Demichelis (calf) and Lukas Podolski (back) both missed out again with injury, handing another start at centre-half to Daniel van Buyten.
There was one surprise in the Bayern matchday squad as Turkey star Hamit Altintop took a seat on the bench for the first time since undergoing surgery on a fractured metatarsal in late August.
Chances at both ends
After FIFA referee Herbert Fandel whistled play underway on a crisp but mercifully dry afternoon, the sides spent a cagey opening period feeling each other out. Tranquillo Barnetta fired over Michael Rensing's crossbar, before his opposite number Rene Adler dashed from his line to thwart Ribery.
Rensing did well to tip Patrick Helmes' rising shot over the bar, but the keeper could have done nothing about Henrique's looping header from a 16th-minute corner which cannoned to safety from the crossbar.
Topics of this article