Bayern, Dortmund aim to bounce back

BAYERN MUNICH and Borussia Dortmund return to Bundesliga action following the international break with both hoping to bounce back from disappointing results last time out.

Leaders Bayern travel to midtable Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow having dropped their first points of the campaign at home to Cologne. That draw opened the door for Dortmund to close the gap but they slipped at Bayer Leverkusen and Thomas Tuchel’s team now welcome second-placed Hertha Berlin today.

Third-placed Dortmund are aiming to set a new club record of 25 consecutive unbeaten home games in the Bundesliga but surprise packages Hertha are not going to roll over easily.

“We’re concentrating on ourselves regardless of who plays for Dortmund. A point is the minimum [goal]. We are well prepared,” Hertha coach Pal Dardai said.

Bayern played down their draw with Cologne as coach Carlo Ancelotti said “no need to be concerned” and defender Mats Hummels added: “We’re a bit frustrated with the draw, but we have 16 points from six games and we’re definitely top. If that’s a crisis, we can live with it.”

Their position at the top of the table may not be strengthened too much as they chase a fifth consecutive title despite the meeting of second and third as both Cologne and RB Leipzig, level on points with Dortmund, have winnable games.

Leipzig look to maintain their unbeaten start to their maiden top-flight campaign away to 13th Wolfsburg, who are winless since the opening day, on Sunday while Cologne host second-bottom Ingolstadt tomorrow.

Bottom team SV Hamburg, the only club other than Ingolstadt without a win in the division, face a difficult trip to Borussia Moenchengladbach as they look to turn round a disastrous start to the season.

New coach Markus Gisdol will be in charge for just the second time and must try to lift a side which has scored a league-worst two goals and conceded a joint second-worst 12 in six games so far.

Werder Bremen are the other club to have rolled the dice on a new coach so far this campaign and Alexander Nouri will hope to continue his positive start of four points from two games against Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow.

Schalke, currently in the playoff place, thrashed Gladbach last time for a first win under coach Markus Weinzierl and now hope to continue their own recovery away to Augsburg.

The other weekend matches see Hoffenheim vs Freiburg and Mainz vs Darmstadt. – dpa