Fireworks expected when on-form Harry Kane and Bayern meet exciting Frankfurt

By: James Ellingworth, The Associated Press Posted: 3:25 AM CDT Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Expect goals when the most on-form striker in European soccer meets an opponent whose every game is a goal-fest.

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DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Expect goals when the most on-form striker in European soccer meets an opponent whose every game is a goal-fest.

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DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Expect goals when the most on-form striker in European soccer meets an opponent whose every game is a goal-fest.

Bayern Munich and Harry Kane — who has 17 goals in nine club games this season — take on Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday in the Bundesliga.

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund faces third-placed Leipzig as they compete to be Bayern’s closest rival.

Bayern's Harry Kane warms up during a training session besides team mate Nicolas Jackson in Munich, Germany, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, ahead of the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Pafos FC and FC Bayern. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Key matchups

Bayern has won every game it’s played this season but hasn’t won in Frankfurt since 2022. Win or lose, Frankfurt is always entertaining. Its eight games in all competitions have yielded a total of 47 goals — almost six per game — after a 6-4 win last week over Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Dortmund is two points off the top and the only undefeated team except for Bayern as it prepares to host Leipzig on Saturday. Leipzig has recovered from losing 6-0 to Bayern on the opening day and won four in a row since.

Kasper Hjulmand hasn’t lost any of his first five games as coach of Bayer Leverkusen but the team still hasn’t found its rhythm. Tightening up a defense which has conceded in each of those games could be key against Union Berlin on Saturday.

Players to watch

Kane’s goals grab the attention but Michael Olise’s contribution to Bayern has been almost as important. A goal and two assists in Bayern’s 5-1 win over Pafos on Tuesday kept up Olise’s run of either scoring or setting up a goal in each of his Bundesliga and Champions League games this season.

Nicolas Jackson finally scored in his fifth game for Bayern on Tuesday, his first goal since arriving from Chelsea on loan. With Kane in such strong form, the Senegal striker’s chances to make an impact have been limited.

Can Uzun is Frankfurt’s key player with five goals and three assists in five Bundesliga games as the 19-year-old attacking midfielder starts to fulfil his potential.

Who’s out

Leverkusen will be without striker Patrik Schick for the first time in the Bundesliga this season. He has a hamstring injury and missed Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven.

Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner misses his team’s game with Hamburger SV on Sunday as he serves the first game of a two-game ban. Zentner was red-carded for a reckless foul on Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi last week.

Off the field

Last-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach is winless and drifting. Caretaker coach Eugen Polanski is heading into his third game in charge on Sunday against Freiburg. That’s as many as Gerardo Seoane managed before he was fired last month. Gladbach sporting director Roland Virkus resigned on Tuesday and the club has said it will sort out the director role before appointing a coach.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer