Christopher Nkunku's hat-trick fires RB Leipzig to a 6-0 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt

RB Leipzig put together their biggest scoreline of the season so far, beating Eintracht Frankfurt 6-0 at the Red Bull Arena to open Bundesliga matchday 5 on Saturday. Ezechiel Banzuzi scored inside the first minute, Christopher Nkunku added a hat-trick either side of the interval, and Antonio Nusa and substitute Tidiam Gomis completed the scoring in a result that never looked in doubt after the opening exchanges.

Nkunku's first Bundesliga goals since returning on loan

The headline belonged to Christopher Nkunku, who joined Leipzig on loan from AC Milan over the summer. His first goal arrived in the 5th minute, assisted by Antonio Nusa, before he added two more in the 41st and 44th to turn a comfortable lead into a rout before half-time — his first Bundesliga hat-trick since returning to the club he left for Chelsea in 2023.

How the six goals came

• 1' — Ezechiel Banzuzi (RB Leipzig), assisted by Neil El Aynaoui
• 5' — Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig), assisted by Antonio Nusa
• 41' — Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
• 44' — Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
• 54' — Antonio Nusa (RB Leipzig), assisted by Ezechiel Banzuzi
• 89' — Tidiam Gomis (RB Leipzig), assisted by Benjamin Henrichs

Cards

• 27' — Neil El Aynaoui (RB Leipzig), yellow
• 62' — Elias Baum (Eintracht Frankfurt), yellow
• 76' — Ansgar Knauff (Eintracht Frankfurt), yellow
• 84' — Raphael Onyedika (Eintracht Frankfurt), yellow

A mixed run turns emphatic

Leipzig's form going into the round had been anything but convincing. A 3-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach on the opening weekend gave way to a 1-3 defeat at Werder Bremen, a 1-4 loss away at Como in the Champions League, a 5-0 win at home to Hamburger SV and a 0-2 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen — two wins and three losses in their last five games across competitions before Saturday, hardly the platform a 6-0 win usually comes from. Frankfurt, by contrast, had looked steadier without being spectacular: a 3-3 draw at Union Berlin, a 1-4 home defeat to Augsburg, a 3-1 win away at Mainz and a 2-2 draw with Freiburg, one win, two draws and a loss through four rounds.

Neither run predicted what followed. Frankfurt never found a foothold after conceding inside the first minute, and by half-time, three goals down to Nkunku alone, the game had long stopped being a contest.

Line-ups

• RB Leipzig (4-2-3-1): Maarten Vandevoordt — Willi Orbán, David Raum, Castello Lukeba, Ridle Baku — Neil El Aynaoui, Andrija Maksimović — Ezechiel Banzuzi, Christopher Nkunku, Antonio Nusa — Rômulo
• Eintracht Frankfurt (3-4-2-1): Noah Atubolu — Lilian Brassier, Robin Koch, Keita Kosugi — Nnamdi Collins, Noëll Aséko, Raphael Onyedika, Ritsu Dōan — Can Uzun, Ansgar Knauff — Jonathan Burkardt

What the result means

Leipzig had gone into matchday 5 in 9th on 6 points from four games; the six goals move them to 9, with their final position depending on how the rest of the round finishes. Frankfurt, who sat 10th on 5 points before kick-off, stay on 5 and will need the weekend's other results to go their way to avoid a bigger drop than the scoreline alone suggests. A six-goal margin also moves Leipzig's goal difference sharply into positive territory for the first time this season, a swing a single result rarely produces in the Bundesliga.

What's next

For Leipzig, the result is the kind of statement win that can turn a stuttering month around, even if the quality of the opposition on the day will invite some caution about reading too much into it. For Frankfurt, who have now failed to win in three of their last four Bundesliga games, there is plenty to work on before the next round — and no time to dwell on a night that got away from them before it had properly begun.