Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot

Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush scored twice, including an injury-time equaliser to secure a 3-3 draw for Eintracht Frankfurt and deny Bayern Munich a two-point cushion at the top of the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Marmoush’s strike sparked wild scenes in Frankfurt, who ensure Bayern go into the international break ahead of RB Leipzig only on goal difference after the Red Bull outfit won 1-0 at Heidenheim earlier.

Bayern had been closing out a 3-2 win but Marmoush raced clear in the fourth of six additional minutes and the 25-year-old punished slack Bayern defending to settle a thriller.

Frankfurt are now on 13 points, only a point behind the joint leaders, and stretch their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions under coach Dino Toppmoeller.

Bayern central defender Min-Jae Kim scored the opener after Thomas Mueller showed great awareness to roll the ball back to the Korean from a corner, allowing the defender to fire into the roof of the net.

It was only Kim’s second goal as a Bayern player, but Bayern were undone by Frankfurt’s first meaningful attack of the game, coming on the counter-attack and completely against the run of play.

Ansgar Knauff made it, sliding the ball through Aleksandar Pavlovic’s legs to find Marmoush, whose first touch got him away from the chasing Joshua Kimmich and he shot past Manuel Neuer with his second.

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Thirteen minutes later, Frankfurt had flipped the game on its head to take a 2-1 lead. Marmoush turned provider, picking out Hugo Ekitike, with the Frenchman doing the rest with a clinical finish.

Marmoush is the Bundesliga’s top scorer this season with eight goals in six games, three more than Bayern’s Harry Kane.

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– Olise’s strong start –

But Frankfurt’s lead lasted only three minutes. Dayot Upamecano stabbed the ball in after Serge Gnabry had stretched the Frankfurt defence.

This absorbing contest lurched back Bayern’s way in the 53rd minute when Michael Olise continued his fine start to life in Germany.

The London-born Frenchman found the bottom corner from the edge of the box after Kane had flicked Raphael Guerreiro’s pass into Olise’s path, before Marmoush ensured a share of the points.

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Mueller said Bayern should have won.

“We would probably win 13 out of 15 such games,” he said. “It was a pleasure to see how we tied down the opponent, because we had a lot of chances to score.”

Earlier, Leipzig had out their noses in front at the top of the table with victory in Heidenheim. Ikoma Openda scored the only goal and the Belgian spoke of the team’s togetherness after a fourth straight clean sheet in the league.

“We are really strong together. Our objective is to be strong, to be like a family, like a team, and to show it on the pitch. That’s what we’ve shown since the start of the season,” Openda told DAZN.

Heidenheim came into the game eighth place and frustrated Leipzig for long periods.

It was only at the end of the half that Heidenheim goalkeeper Kevin Mueller was called into action to deny Xavi Simons, who breached the hosts’ defence but failed to make a proper connection, with the on-rushing Mueller smothering.

But Leipzig found another gear just before the hour mark, slicing through the Heidenheim defence.

The 19-year-old Norwegian Antonio Nusa was the architect, spotting Openda’s run with a perfect pass which Openda took in his stride before firing in at the near post.

Openda, who also scored the winner when these teams met in April, struck the post a couple of minutes from time and Leipzig had to survive some late Heidenheim pressure to secure the points.

In the final Bundesliga game before the international break, lowly Stuttgart substitute Ermedin Demirovic scored a 100th minute equaliser to deny Hoffenheim — but the dropped points keep Stuttgart out of the top six.

French defender Valentin Gendrey had given Hoffenheim the lead in the final minute of the first half but the visitors couldn’t hang on for a much-needed three points, with Demirovic’s late penalty saved but the Bosnian scored on the rebound.

Reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Holstein Kiel on Saturday and lie fifth.

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