Frankfurt, Germany – Eintracht Frankfurt scored early but was unable to hold on as it played to a 1-1 draw with lowly Greuther Furth at the Commerzbank Arena on Friday.
Alexander Meier opened the scoring for the home side inside the first minute, notching his seventh goal of the season.
But Zoltan Stieber earned struggling Greuther Furth a share of the spoils, striking in the 53rd minute to lift his side to seven points with its third straight draw.
Eintracht could have placed additional pressure on first-place Bayern Munich with a win on Friday, but the draw still helps the promoted club bounce back from a loss to Stuttgart to improve to 20 points. Eintracht remains in third place.
Bayern suffered its first loss of the season last time out as it fell to Bayer Leverkusen. The Bundesliga leaders return to the pitch with a tricky tilt against Hamburg, a match that will pit Manuel Neuer and Rene Adler, two of Germany's premier goalkeepers, against one another.
Also on Saturday, reigning champions Borussia Dortmund will try to close the gap on third-place Eintracht when it hosts Stuttgart at Signal Iduna Park, Hannover tries to avoid a third successive defeat when it welcomes Augsburg to the AWD Arena, Schalke tries to secure its fourth straight win when it heads to the Rhein-Neckar Arena to face Hoffenheim, Freiburg hopes to climb above Monchengladbach with three points at Borussia Park, and Wolfsburg hopes to turn its season around when faces Nurnberg.
Bayer Leverkusen has begun its climb up the Bundesliga, stringing together a six-game unbeaten streak. Dusseldorf, looking to avoid a fourth successive defeat, stands in the way of Leverkusen going unbeaten in eight as the two sides get set to meet at the BayArena on Sunday.
And in Sunday's second clash, Mainz will attempt to claim a fourth win from five games when it heads to the Weserstadion to face Werder Bremen.
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