By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Bundesliga returns following the international break with a fixture that sets pulses racing across the footballing world: Der Klassiker. FC Bayern München host Borussia Dortmund in a game that never fails to disappoint and promises to be even more spellbinding given the blistering start both sides have made to 2025-26.
Unbeaten in the top flight so far this season, both the defending champions and the Black-and-Yellows are leading the way at the top of the standings and already sending out signals of their ambitious intent for a campaign that is heating up nicely.
Bayern lead the way having won every one of their Bundesliga fixtures – and all 10 games in all competitions – with Vincent Kompany’s side setting a new standard for the best ever start to season in terms of points won and goal difference (38-8).
Blazing a trail up front for the men in red, striking sensation Harry Kane has already become the very first player to score 11 goals after the first six Bundesliga games. That phenomenal tally means the English marksman now averages a goal every 78 minutes in his Bundesliga career to date.
Yet one of the many facets that makes Saturday’s showdown at the Allianz Arena all the more unmissable, is that Dortmund – who have won four and drawn two of their six Bundesliga games in 2025/26 – also have a forward who is just as capable of proving a match-winner on his day. If Kane holds the scoring record after six games, Serhou Guirassy boasts the best tally after seven, the Guinea international racking up 13 at that stage when playing for VfB Stuttgart back in 2023-24.
The men calling the shots in the dugouts – Kompany and ex-Bayern tactician Niko Kovač – are also setting standards others in the division can only dream of. The Belgian is averaging 2.5 points per game at the Bayern helm, while BVB supremo Kovač has helped to turn the fortunes of Die Schwarzgelben with a 2.1 points-per-game average.
With Bayern boasting such in-form stars as Serge Gnabry, Michael Olise, Joshua Kimmich and new signing Luis Díaz, and Dortmund’s flying full-backs Julian Ryerson and Daniel Svensson tearing up the flanks to complement Karim Adeyemi’s pace and powerful finishing, the Bundesliga’s 113th Klassiker could prove one of the greatest spectacles yet in the series.
The rest of the Bundesliga’s movers and shakers will be equally eager to impress on a weekend that promises so much. At the MEWA Arena, 1. FSV Mainz 05 host a Bayer 04 Leverkusen side that are rapidly taking shape under the recently appointed Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand. Meanwhile, the third-placed RB Leipzig and their exciting array of young attacking stars will test themselves against a Hamburger SV team currently delighting their fans with a solid run of results.
A game between Sport-Club Freiburg and Eintracht Frankfurt rarely disappoints, and with both teams’ form fluctuating somewhat, each will be keen to use Sunday’s fixture at the Europa-Park Stadion as one to lay down a marker for the games to come ahead of one more international break in November.
With Matchday 7 beginning with a Friday-night special between 1. FC Union Berlin and troubled Borussia Mönchengladbach at the always atmospheric Stadion An der Alten Försterei, Der Klassiker weekend in the Bundesliga is one not to be missed.