BERLIN (AFP) - Bayer Leverkusen boss Rudi Voeller admitted Bayern Munich deserve to be crowned German champions after his side were beaten 2-1 by the league leaders at the Allianz Arena.
A pair of Luca Toni goals sealed Bayern's win over Leverkusen on Saturday. giving the Munich a seven-point lead over second placed Hamburg at top of the Bundesliga.
Bayern produced the perfect reply to their humiliating 2-0 defeat at Energie Cottbus last weekend as they dominated Bayer, who remain third but level on 44 points with Werder Bremen and Schalke 04.
"When you see the way Bayern played against us, you can only applaud and regard them as the future champions. They are the best team in the championship," said Voeller, Bayer's director of sport.
Bayern skipper Oliver Khan is set to retire from Bundesliga football at the end of the season and the former Germany captain, set to win his eighth league title with Bayern, was patronising about the lack of serious competition.
"We don't have rivals anymore," said Kahn, who nevertheless had to produce a point-blank save to deny Bayer a late equaliser.
Werder Bremen went some way to prove him right on Sunday when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Arminia Bielefeld, narrowly avoiding their third straight league defeat.
Defender Oliver Kirch put Bielefeld ahead on 15 minutes before Diego spared Bremen's blushes with a penalty on 70 minutes.
"We wanted to win and improve our position. We did not manage that, therefore it's natural we lost two league points," said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf.
The valuable point lifts Bielefeld just out of the bottom three.
The draw leaves Bremen fourth, but level on both points and goal difference with Schalke 04 who won 2-1 in Berlin on Sunday.
Schalke raced into a 2-0 lead after just 25 minutes when Gerald Asamoah and Jermaine Jones scored, but Hertha hit back with a penalty just after the hour mark to create a tense finish.
"We have not taken our eyes off the target of finishing in the top three," said Schalke coach Mirko Slomka, whose side play Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals on April 1.
"We know how good it is to play in the Champions League. We worked hard and deserved our victory."
Second-placed Hamburg are now seven points behind Bayern after they slipped to a 1-1 draw with VfL Wolfsburg during a bad-tempered game with four red cards in a crazy ten-minute spell just before the final whistle.
Defender Bastian Reinhardt headed home a Piotr Trochowski pass on 14 minutes to put Hamburg ahead, but Wolfsburg striker Danijel Ljuboja equalised early in the second-half to share the points.
Defending champions VfB Stuttgart are on the verge of breaking into the top five - and a place in Europe next season - as they beat Hansa Rostock 4-1.
German Cup finalists Borussia Dortmund shared a point in their battle to stay away from the relegation zone when they drew 1-1 with mid-table Karslruhe.
Croatian striker Mladen Petric's 12th league goal of the season to put Dortmund ahead before Sebastian Freis equalised.
And mid-table Hanover were held 1-1 by bottom side Duisburg while on Thursday night Eintracht Frankfurt picked up a 2-1 win over Energie Cottbus.
