Preview: Showdown in Munich | OneFootball

It’s first against third as Eintracht head to leaders Bayern on Sunday, with both teams still unbeaten in the Bundesliga in 2025.

Backdrop

Following the commanding 3-1 success over Holstein Kiel last weekend, which cemented third place in the Bundesliga standings after 22 rounds of matches, Eintracht now head into a top-of-the-table assignment at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena on Sunday 23 February (kick-off 17:30 CET). “We’re really looking forward to it, it’s going to be a great game,” said sporting director Timmo Hardung ahead of the 108th Bundesliga meeting between the teams. “It’s always very difficult to play in Munich because on the one hand you’re facing a strong opponent with lots of quality, and on the other there’s the big, fantastic stadium. We’ll try to hold our own there.”

“Need a top-class performance” Bayern are currently enjoying their best Bundesliga campaign in seven years, with 55 points on the board from 22 matches. They have won ten of their 11 league fixtures on home turf this season, drawing the other 1-1 against Bayer Leverkusen.

They come into Sunday’s Matchday 23 fixture following a goalless draw in Leverkusen last Saturday that maintained their eight-point lead at the summit. Eintracht are just a little further back in third with 42 points.

“We know that we’ll need an absolutely top-class performance,” said head coach Dino Toppmöller. “But in the 3-3 draw against them in the first half of the season, we showed that we’ve got the weapons to hurt them, especially in transition with our pace. We’ll try to come up with the best plan possible in order to take something from the game.”

Young and hungry for goals

Hugo Ekitiké was on the scoresheet in that 3-3 draw in Frankfurt back in October, netting for the second time in as many games against Bayern. If he finds the net again this weekend, he will become only the second player since the turn of the century to score against the record German champions in his first three matches against them. Dodi Lukébakio is the only player to have achieved that feat so far, doing so for Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hertha Berlin between 2018 and 2019.

Ekitiké, 22, already has 12 league goals this season, meaning he has played a major role in 27 of the team’s goals so far being scored by players aged 23 or under. Only Ligue 1 side Racing Club de Strasbourg, with 36, have more such goals in all of Europe’s top five leagues.

Can Uzun, aged 19 years and 97 days, scored his fourth goal for the Eagles when he found the net against Kiel last time out. The only Eintracht player ever to have reached that tally at a younger age was Walter Bechtold, who was 18 when he scored six times in 17 outings in the 1965/66 campaign.

Goals will certainly be needed on Sunday. Come on you Eagles!