By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
With barely enough time to draw our breath after one more pulsating Bundesliga weekend, Matchday 9 is already rapidly approaching and the action kicks off with a Friday-night thriller to get November started in style.
The defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen face last term’s runners-up VfB Stuttgart in a fixture that never disappoints.
Having already been treated to a Supercup curtain-raiser between these sides back in August, fans will be keen to see if visiting Stuttgart can gain revenge for their penalty shootout loss to Xabi Alonso’s side, who produced one of their characteristic late comebacks to level that showpiece game through Patrik Schick, before going on to take the silverware on spot-kicks.
The sides couldn’t be separated during Leverkusen’s unbeaten run to the Bundesliga title in 2023-24, with a 2-2 draw at the BayArena preceding a 1-1 stalemate in Stuttgart. Yet it was Bayer 04 who were celebrating in the DFB Cup during their famous double run, knocking the Swabians out of the tournament with a 90th minute Jonathan Tah winner at the quarter-final stage. A fascinating and growing rivalry resumes on Friday.
The entertainment spills into a weekend that showcases games between current division leaders FC Bayern München and 1. FC Union Berlin, as well as high-flyers RB Leipzig at Borussia Dortmund. Bayern and Leipzig are the only two remaining unbeaten teams in the Bundesliga this season, and their respective positions in first and second place are separated only by goal difference.
Neither will have it easy in match-ups that will require the best of both teams. Union go to the Allianz Arena a resurgent force under new coach Bo Svensson. The capital club are in fourth position, have lost just once this season and boast the second-meanest defence in the league after Leipzig. Harry Kane – the Bundesliga’s joint-top scorer with nine goals and, jointly with Kylian Mbappé, the latest recipient of the Gerd Müller Trophy at Monday’s
Ballon d’Or awards – will have his work cut out in trying to breach a back-line that has conceded just five times this term. However, Bayern also boast a fit-again Jamal Musiala, who is already firing after a spell on the sidelines.
For their part, Marco Rose’s Leipzig go to the Signal Iduna Park to take on a Dortmund side who have not been in top form of late. Last weekend’s loss away to FC Augsburg represented a third reverse in four games in all competitions for Die Schwarzgelben, who will be eager to buck that unwanted trend in Saturday evening’s Topspiel.
Surging in the early-season games with four wins in a row, Eintracht Frankfurt’s wings have been clipped a touch of late, with Sunday’s draw against Union making it three matches in the Bundesliga without a victory for Dino Toppmöller’s team. That said, the Eagles do boast a player to match the aforementioned Kane’s numbers, with forward Omar Marmoush’s nine goals marking him out as a major threat to VfL Bochum 1848 this weekend. Ably flanked by the ever-exciting Hugo Ekitiké (two goals, two assists), Frankfurt will want to get back to winning ways against the division’s bottom side, who were well beaten by Bayern last time out.
Elsewhere, FC St. Pauli will look to build on another point gained on Matchday 8 when they visit TSG Hoffenheim, positioned directly above them at the wrong end of the table. Holstein Kiel are also in plenty of bother in the standings, making the Storks’ encounter against 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 – in 10th – all the more important. The Matchday 9 action concludes on Sunday, when 1. FSV Mainz 05 go to fifth-placed SC Freiburg, and Borussia Mönchengladbach host SV Werder Bremen.