Bundesliga
Top four collide on Super Saturday
Bayern Munich looking invincible, Eintracht Frankfurt scoring for fun, Borussia Dortmund getting better and better under Niko Kovač and a new-look RB Leipzig back in the mix - who will come out on top when the top four face off in an incredible Saturday of Bundesliga football?
Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Bayern Munich (fourth vs. first, kick-off: 6.30pm CEST)
After successive Bundesliga defeats, Frankfurt bounced back in some style against Borussia Monchengladbach on Matchday 5, thrashing the league’s bottom-placed club 6-4. That win also included a sensational first-half performance where the Eagles found themselves 5-0 up at the break.
Despite losing both strikers Hugo Ekitiké and Omar Marmoush in less than a year, Dino Toppmöller’s side seem to have found the secret to scoring goals by the bucketload. The Eagles have already managed 17 of them in five Bundesliga matches, a total only bettered by Saturday’s opponents, Bayern.
Frankfurt's cream of the crop so far this season has been 19-year-old Türkiye international Can Uzun. The youngster has scored in every Bundesliga game, an accomplishment not even matched by the league’s top scorer, Harry Kane.
Watch: You bet he Can!
Bayern, meanwhile, have looked invincible, steamrolling everything in their path to top the table with maximum points, scoring a ridiculous 22 goals and conceding just three in the process.
Of those 22 goals, Kane has bagged 10. The Englishman added two more to his total in Friday’s 4-0 thrashing of Werder Bremen to bring his total up to 100 goals for Bayern in just 104 games, breaking a European record previously held by Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland (100 goals in 105 games). Oh, and he netted a first-half brace in Bayern's 5-1 Champions League win at Pafos in midweek, too.
Watch: Like a Hurri-Kane!
Behind Kane, Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry and new signing Luis Díaz have all looked unstoppable, even in the injury-enforced absence of Jamal Musiala. Jonathan Tah has also slotted in effortlessly at centre-back since joining from Bayer Leverkusen, adding an extra layer of steel to a seemingly watertight defence.
The visitors will also be buoyed by the fact that they beat Frankfurt 4-0 at the Allianz Arena in the most recent encounter between the two sides, a real statement victory as Bayern went on to win their 33rd Bundesliga title.
Watch: Bayern 4-0 Frankfurt - highlights
Borussia Dortmund vs. RB Leipzig (second vs. third, kick-off: 3.30pm CEST)
After hitting top form towards the end of last season to claim what had looked an unlikely top-four spot, Dortmund have picked up where they left off, with Niko Kovač’s side improving on a near weekly basis.
Along with Bayern, second-placed BVB are unbeaten, only dropping points in a 3-3 draw away to St. Pauli on Matchday 1. Since then, the Black-Yellows haven’t conceded a league goal, winning all four of their matches to move up to second.
Boasting arguably the most stacked midfield in the league and with the unstoppable Serhou Guirassy up front, Kovač’s side are looking the real deal once more and seem capable of pushing the likes of Bayern all the way.
Watch: Dortmund on the right track
Matchday 1 saw Leipzig humiliated 6-0 at the hands of Bayern, but since then Die Roten Bullen have bounced back in style, winning all four of their matches and conceding just once.
New head coach Ole Werner has overseen a significant squad overhaul already this season, with the club’s star forward trio of Xavi Simons, Loïs Openda and Benjamin Šeško all leaving the club in the summer. Happily, newcomers Yan Diomande, Johan Bakayoko and Rômulo have all hit the ground running, posting a collective six goal involvements between Matchdays 2-5.
When these sides last met in March, Leipzig overcame Dortmund 2-0 at the Red Bull Arena, with Simons and Openda scoring the goals. However, that was the last time Dortmund lost a Bundesliga game.
Watch: Johan Bakayoko in focus
The last time the Bundesliga’s top four clubs faced off on the same matchday was back in 2023, when Freiburg took on Bayern and Dortmund played against Union Berlin on Matchday 27.
On that Saturday, first beat fourth as Bayern scraped a 1-0 win at Freiburg thanks to a Matthijs de Ligt stunner and second beat third as Dortmund edged out Union 2-1 at the Signal Iduna Park.
That season, Bayern went on to win the title on the final day, edging ahead of Dortmund on goal difference. Union, meanwhile, finished a remarkable fourth to seal Champions League football as Freiburg dropped to fifth.
Results this coming weekend could provide a real barometer of each team's top-four, if not, title credentials...