By Rich

Faride Alidou is a 21-year-old winger for Eintracht Frankfurt. Alidou was born on July 18, 2001 in Hamburg, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for Einigkeit Wilhelmsburg until 2012, and Hamburger SV from 2012 to 2019. He began playing for Hamburger SV II in 2019, and then made his debut for Hamburg’s first team on October 16, 2021 in a 1:1 draw with Fortuna Düsseldorf. He scored his first goal for Hamburg on November 20, 2021 in a 4:1 win over Jahn Regensburg. On March 23, 2022, Alidou signed a pre-contract agreement with Eintracht Frankfurt, and committed to a 4-year contract with the club. Alidou has also made 8 appearances for Germany’s U20 and U21 squads since 2021, scoring 1 goal.

By Rich

Competition in the 1. Bundesliga resumed on Friday with a 1:1 draw between hosts RB Leipzig and visitors FC Bayern München. Bayern’s goal was the first of the match, in the 37th minute, and came when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored off a cross from Serge Gnabry. Leipzig equaled the match in the 52nd minute, when defender Marcel Halstenberg prodded the ball past ex-Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano, with the assist awarded to Dominik Szoboszlai. The draw means that Leipzig are now unbeaten in 14 competitive matches, even though the club has won only 1 of 16 meetings with Bayern to date. Many Bundesliga fans will be watching Saturday’s contest between hosts Eintracht Frankfurt and visitors FC Schalke 04 to see whether Eintracht’s Randal Kolo Muani can pick up where he left off at the end of 2022. Muani joined Frankfurt from Nantes last summer, and has accumulated 5 goals in his first 14 appearances for the club. His contributions have helped the club steadily climb the rankings to a commendable 4th place, just 7 points behind Bayern. The club’s attack, which has also included Daichi Kamada, Mario Götze, and Jesper Lindstrom has struck 32 times so far this term, including 4 goals against RB Leipzig. Frankfurt’s opponents have suffered a dismal return to the top flight, having lost 10 of their first 15 matches. The remaining club in the league’s top 4, SC Freiburg, will travel to Wolfsburg on Saturday. Wolfsburg had a tough start to the season, having won only once in 7 matches, but are now unbeaten in 9 matches across all competitions, and managed to defeat Borussia Dortmund 2:0. Freiburg, however, are enjoying a stellar season, with only 3 defeats across 23 competitive matches, and now trail Bayern by just 4 points. Freiburg won both of their matches against Wolfsburg last season. The 2 Borussias will play their matches on Sunday, when Borussia Dortmund host Augsburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach host nearby Bayer Leverkusen. While Dortmund’s Marco Reus is still questionable for Sunday, the club should see Sebastian Haller make his competitive debut after recovering from cancer and scoring a hat trick in a friendly against Basel earlier this month. The match between rivals Gladbach and Leverkusen will feature the return of Florian Wirtz for Leverkusen, who has been recovering from a cruciate ligament injury. Gladbach, meanwhile, have seen off star goaltender Yann Sommer to Bayern, who was quickly replaced by Jonas Omlin from Montepellier.