Late Saturday clash with Bayern

1. FC Union Berlin make the trip south to league-leaders Bayern Munich on Saturday at 18:30.

Review — The last match:

1. FC Union Berlin were minutes away from getting to the 40-point mark for the season, but managed to only take a point from last weekend’s home clash with VfB Stuttgart. A strong first-half performance was rewarded by a penalty kick for handball. Taiwo Awoniyi stepped up to convert shortly before the break and take his tally to 11. Stuttgart put on more pressure in the second half but despite that, Union were well in control. A header from Niko Gießelmann could have killed the contest at a crucial point. The away side dug into the energy reserves and found more threat in the last 15 minutes. Sasa Kalajdzic hit the post but he would later get his reward to equalise after 91 minutes. An inch-perfect cross from Borna Sosa gave the Austrian a crack at goal and he beat Frederik Rönnow to make it 1-1.

Bayern — Opposition Report:

Bayern Munich hold a four-point lead over Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga following Dortmund’s extra games were played this week. Eight matches stand between Julian Nagelsmann’s side’s 32nd German championship triumph and 10 in a row. It starts for the league-leaders on Saturday at home to Union, but they will need to improve on recent form. Against Leverkusen (H) and Hoffenheim (A), Bayern have drawn 1-1 on both occasions. At the start of February, Bayern were beaten 4-2 at Bochum. Bayern have lost two matches at home this season in the Bundesliga — against Eintracht Frankfurt in 2021 and Borussia Mönchengladbach early 2022.

Bayern — The coach’s view:

“They have everything,” explained coach Urs Fischer. “Game winners, decision makers. They have speed and quality at the top line. But the important thing is that we look at ourselves. It will require a brave performance, like we showed in the first-half against Stuttgart. We can’t be passive like the second.”

Personnel:

Grischa Prömel is suspended after picking up a late yellow against Stuttgart. Keita Endo, Levin Özutnali, Dominique Heintz and Niko Gießelmann are unavailable for selection. Andreas Luthe and Kevin Behrens have trained for the whole week so far.

Service:

A good 1,400 supporters will head to Munich from Berlin.

The match takes place under 2G conditions and more information can be found here.