Sami Hyypia and Arturo Vidal struck within two minutes of each other as Bayer Leverkusen enjoyed a convincing victory against 10-man Stuttgart.

Hyypia gave Leverkusen the lead in the 19th minute and Vidal made it 2-0 just two minutes later. The hosts went a man down in the 31st minute, with Mauro Camoranesi getting his marching orders.

Stuttgart pulled a goal back eight minutes after the break through Zdravko Kuzmanovic only to see Hanno Balitsch make it 3-1 in the 69th minute and Sidney Sam round off the scoring just before the end.

Leverkusen came into the game with serious injury concerns with Michael Ballack, Stefan Kiessling, Gonzalo Castro, Patrick Helmes and Lars Bender all out. But they started the game brightly and jumped ahead after 19 minutes when Tranquillo Barnetta's free-kick from the left wing was headed home by Hyypia.

The visitors made it 2-0 two minutes later again when Vidal nodded in a cross by Michal Kadlec from the left. Stuttgart's task was made even more difficult in the 31st minute with Camoranesi being shown a red card for a challenge on Barnetta.

Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich made a superb save from Eren Derdiyok's ensuing free-kick from just outside the area. Stuttgart were able to pull a goal back in the 53rd minute with Kuzmanovic's free-kick from the left side going in untouched to make it 2-1.

But Leverkusen regained a two-goal lead with 21 minutes left, Balitsch volleying home Derdiyok's looping pass from the left. Pavel Pogrebnyak appeared to make it 3-2 six minutes later but team-mate Ciprian Marica was adjudged to have handled the ball in the build up.

And Sam finished off Stuttgart for good with his goal two minutes before the final whistle.