Union Berlin players, coach react to heavy defeat against Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich stamped their foot down once again in the Bundesliga title race — showing that for now, they’re only in the same league as the competition in technical terms.

“They were clear winners — two or three classes above,” conceded Union Berlin coach Urs Fischer via FCBayern.com. “You have to admit that. I must say, we could’ve gone in at the break 1-0 down, but 3-0 is a fair result. The second and third goals annoyed me, especially the build-up. When you gift Bayern chances like that, they gobble them up.”

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Rani Khedira — brother of former Germany international Sami — concurred: “You have to be really bold if you want to come away from Munich with anything. We just weren’t in the first half and then there’s no way back here. We’re about defending from the front, but we were too passive and sat too deep in the first half. And when Bayern start motoring, they take advantage of that.”

Finally, center-back Robin Knoche weighed in.“We had to do a lot of chasing, but we knew that beforehand,” he said. “But when you win the ball, you have to use it better and make things happen. You can’t give away goals like that. We didn’t stand a chance today.”

Union are no strangers to some good-natured self-deprecation; in the second half of the broadcast the ESPN team noted that Fischer had recently joked about meeting their season goals of staying in the Bundesliga. But make no mistake, Die Eisernen are a team with pride and ambition. The loss sets them back three points behind both Bayern and Borussia Dortmund, but a Champions League place is still very much in the cards. So, too, is a title challenge, if they can otherwise maintain their form.

Interested in a more in-depth look at the game? Will Julian Nagelsmann stick to this setup? Should he? And is the Bundesliga stronger this season? We tackle all those questions and more in the latest edition of our podcast. Listen to it below or at this link.

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