© Getty
After draw against Union
Sat, 15/03/25, 22:01
FCB turn focus to decisive weeks after international break
The Bayern fans have had a lot to celebrate recently. Apart from the 3-2 defeat against VfL Bochum last week, Bayern lay down a marker against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League last 16, with the FC Bayern family looking forward to the last eight heavyweight clash with Inter. The club celebrated its 125-year anniversary and Joshua Kimmich, who led the team out as captain against Union, Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies and Manuel Neuer have extended their contracts, so the atmosphere at the Säbener Straße was very good, and the Bavarians went to the capital with a lot of confidence.
Sané opens
Munich were accordingly disappointed and self-critical after the 1-1 draw away at Union Berlin on Saturday, the second game without victory in a row. "It hurts that it ended in a 1-1 draw, but we'll keep going. It's a Bundesliga game and we want to fight for the championship title. Our goal was to take three points, unfortunately it didn't work," said scorer Leroy Sané. The Germany international scored his seventh Bundesliga goal this season after 75 minutes and rewarded Munich for their dominance. The away fans chanted, but Benedict Hollerbach soon equalised for Union.
Leroy Sané & Co. were happy for only eight minutes until Union levelled the scores. | © Getty
"It was a game with two facets for us – the performance and the result. We aren't satisfied with the result, but we didn't turn in a bad performance," head coach Vincent Kompany said after two consecutive weeks with midweek matches. "We didn't allow anything for a long time and neutralised Union. We had to be patient and work hard for our chances. We did a better job up front and were more dangerous in the second half." The stats proved him right. Kompany had to make do without Manuel Neuer (torn muscle fibre), Minjae Kim (Achilles tendon problem), Kingsley Coman (sustained a knock against Leverkusen), Aleksandar Pavlović (infection) and João Palhinha (ban).
37 crosses
It was one-way traffic from the off, with Bayern enjoying 85 percent of the ball in the first quarter-hour. They had 80 percent possession over the whole game, played 736 passes to Union's 177 and 37 crosses, which failed to find takers. Harry Kane & Co. took only four shots at goal, with Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano – who boasted a 100 percent completion rate of his passes and won every tackle in the first half – missing the best chances, as did Serge Gnabry on the stroke of half-time and Harry Kane after 50 minutes.
Bayern had many chances away at Union, such as Serge Gnabry’s effort on the stroke of half-time. | © Imago
Eberl: Draw is annoying
"We weren't precise enough up front, but you saw we all wanted it, you can't deny that," said Josip Stanišić, who invited Sané to score after Michael Olise's pass in behind. Sané has been involved in seven goals from 11 matches so far in 2025 (four goals, three assists), as many as in 23 Bundesliga matches in the whole of 2024 (three goals, four assists). Board member for sport Max Eberl knew "it wouldn't be easy. Then we finally scored, it went according to plan, down the wing with a deep run. I was very glad Leroy took the chance. Union then attacked and we conceded the equaliser. The draw is annoying in light of our dominance."
Leverkusen to face Stuttgart
We're getting punished for every mistake in the Bundesliga at the moment. We're lacking a bit of luck at the moment. If we regain it, it won't be about one point from two matches any more, but about six points. The good thing is that the team gave it everything even though Union Berlin defended around their box with 11 men for almost 90 minutes.
Josip Stanišić
Stanišić saw more reasons for the setback in the capital: "We must work on our ruthlessness. We must close it out, we must score the second or third goal. And we must try to finish off matches like this as a team, even with a 1-0 scoreline." This way FCB have to make do with one point. The table-toppers extended their lead to nine points overnight, but Leverkusen can cut the gap to six away at Bundesliga runners-up Stuttgart on Sunday.
Head coach Vincent Kompany summarised: "Hats off to Union, they did a good job and they took their one chance. It'll go on for us." After very intense weeks in February and March, a number of Bayern pros will be on national team duty during the international break before the decisive phase of the season with two Bundesliga matches against St. Pauli (29 March) and Augsburg (4 April). All Bayern pros will try everything for the FCB fans to be able to celebrate again after the tie against Inter (8 and 16 April) and the final spurt in the Bundesliga.
The reaction to Union Berlin v Bayern:
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