Younes Ebnoutalib makes his mark with opening day hat-trick - Jürgen Klopp call around the corner?
While it was not enough to see Eintracht Frankfurt kick off the Bundesliga campaign with a victory, Younes Ebnoutalib impressed with a hat-trick at the Stadion an der Alten Försterei against Union Berlin. After missing a significant portion of last season due to injury, he has already shown this season why the Eagles signed him, and he could soon be attracting the attention of Germany head coach Jürgen Klopp...
Adi Hütter's second stint in charge of Frankfurt began with a 3-3 draw in the capital, and the Eagles will certainly feel that they should have left with more. Although the hosts took the lead through debutant Emmanuel Latte Lath, Frankfurt recovered to move 3-1 in front, and ultimately only succumbed their lead in the second minute of injury time.
There were positives for the returning boss to take from this encounter, especially the display of Ebnoutalib. The forward was a threat throughout, as illustrated by his three well-taken goals. The first was a poacher's finish as he buried from close range, while he then took advantage of Leopold Querfeld's error to bare down on goal and slot beyond Matheo Raab just 51 seconds later.
Watch: Ebnoutalib celebrates his opening goal versus Union
Then, in the second half, he dispatched a clinical volley from inside the area to not only seemingly put Frankfurt on their way to all three points, but also become the first Eintracht player to score a Bundesliga hat-trick since Luka Jović hit five past Fortuna Düsseldorf in October 2018.
The treble takes his tally for the season to four after he found the back of the net in Frankfurt's 11-0 DFB Cup first-round mauling of Tönis, while he has five goals in seven games overall since his switch from Elversberg last January. That tally may well be higher had a ligament injury not kept him out of nine games during the second half of 2025/26.
Now, free of fitness problems, he will be eager to return to the form that saw him score 12 goals in the first 17 Bundesliga 2 games of last season before his winter transfer to Deutsche Bank Park.
Following the match, Ebnoutalib - who was voted the game's official Man of the Match - discussed his performance and seemed slightly surprised by his exploits. "Three goals are always nice. It's a shame it was only enough for a point. Three points would have been better. Everyone fought hard. Union has a lot of tall players, so it's difficult when they play long balls. I'm simply happy and grateful to the team; I want to help. I always set myself goals, I always want to play a good game, but I really didn't expect to score three goals."
Should he be able to continue this hot streak, he may well work his way into Klopp's plans. The Germany national team is embarking on a new era under the former Borussia Dortmund and Mainz man, giving everyone a fresh chance to impress.
Prior to Bayern's opening victory over VfB Stuttgart, Klopp spoke to Sky Germany and revealed that he had called the latter's Dženan Pejčinović about his international future. The Germany U21 international netted a hat-trick himself in the DFB Cup last weekend and struck 12 times in all competitions for Wolfsburg last term - one fewer than Frankfurt-born Ebnoutalib.
If Pejčinović has caught Klopp's attention, then there is no reason why Eintracht's man of the moment - capped by Morocco at Under-15 level - can't do the same.
