Dominant Bayern down Union Berlin

FC Bayern beat Union Berlin 4-0 on Saturday to win their sixth home match in a row. Munich were dominant throughout but ran up in vain against Union’s solid defence until Michael Olise and Serge Gnabry struck to deadly effect shortly before half-time. Harry Kane and Gnabry added gloss to the scoreline in the second half.

Bayern started with Jonas Urbig in goal and Josip Stanišić, Dayot Upamecano, Minjae Kim and Konrad Laimer in defence. Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka anchored a midfield featuring Gnabry, Lennart Karl and Olise, with Kane up front. Tom Bischof, Raphaël Guerreiro, Hiroki Ito, Erblin Osmani and Maycon Cardozo took over from Upamecano, Karl, Kim, Goretzka and Gnabry in the second half.

Game of patience

The pattern of the game was soon established with Bayern in the driving seat and Union sitting deep. An Olise chip evaded Kane, Karl fired straight at keeper Frederik Rønnow and Kane had an effort deflected behind. Bayern came closest to unpicking Union’s defence when Stanišić squared for Karl, who hit the post.

Kane fired a free-kick over, Rønnow denied Olise and Kane put wide from a tight angle. Bayern kept probing until Goretzka’s pinpoint pass found Olise, who sidestepped a defender and curled into the far corner of the net. The goal opened the floodgates and a cross was only cleared as far as Gnabry, who beat covering defenders on the stroke of half-time.

Brace for Gnabry

Vincent Kompany’s men picked up where they left off in the first half and Laimer teed up Kane, who blasted into the right corner of the net. Karl saw his header saved and Kane miscued another header. An Olise effort was blocked but the ball fell to Gnabry, who powered a drive past Rønnow to make it four.

Urbig was called into action to deny ex-FCB man Wooyeong Jeong. Olise hit the post before Jeong fired over at the other end. Kane was through on goal but put it wide as Bayern claimed another three points.

The victory takes Bayern onto 70 points from 27 matches, with 97 goals scored. A number of players will be on national team duty during the international break before Munich return to action on 4 April when they travel to face Freiburg in the Bundesliga.

Live match report for fcbayern.com by Greg Salmen