Union Berlin vs Bayern Munich
Stadion An der Alten Forstelei , Berlin
Sunday, 16-05-2020 @7pm
Ref: Frank Willenborg
Bayern Munich will be hoping to continue their march towards another Bundesliga title when they take on Union Berlin on Sunday.
The Bavarians head into the encounter a point above second placed Dortmund who have played a game more.
After a shaky start to the season, things have gone pretty smooth since the arrival of Hansi Flick who has turned Bayern’s season on its head.
The Munich-based outfit have not lost any of their last 11 games in the league, winning 31 points out of a possible 33. This total saw them leapfrog the likes of Gladbach, Leipzig and Dortmund to climb to the top of the ladder. Lucien Favre’s men are the closest challengers to Bayern right now, sitting just a point below them, following Saturday’s win against Schalke.
Their incredible form also includes the 0-3 dismantling of Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge in the Champions League, when the ever-so-scintillating Robert Lewandowski continued his insane form this season, scoring once and setting up both of Serge Gnabry’s goals. The Pole is the top scorer in the BuLi with 25 goals, just two off of Ciro Immobile , who tops the scoring charts in the European Golden Shoe race.
For Union, were promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history prior to the 2019/20 season and have fared pretty well so far. They sit in the 11th place in the table, two points above Eintracht Frankfurt who finished 7th in the previous season.
Union have scored just one goal less than sixth-placed Schalke (33), while conceding 41 goals – two less than ninth-placed Hoffenheim. However, they have failed to win three of their last four games in all competitions.
On matchday 3 of the season, Berlin outplayed Dortmund at home, beating them 3-1 with the help of a brace from Marius Bulter and a goal from Sebastian Andersson. The duo has scored a total of 18 goals in the league, 56% of their team’s total.
The break has given Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski, the division’s top scorer with 25 goals, a chance to recover from a knee injury. Jann-Fiete Arp, Kingsley Coman and Ivan Perisic are also fully fit, but Philippe Coutinho and Corentin Tolisso have undergone ankle surgery and are out for the foreseeable future. Niklas Sule may play again this season after being given time to recover from a long-term knee injury, though this game will come too soon.
As for the home side, Yunus Malli is not back in full training after recently testing positive for COVID-19. Sheraldo Becker will miss around a month with a thigh injury, meanwhile, and Marvin Friedrich is banned. However, captain Christopher Trimmel will be back involved after serving a suspension before the coronavirus-enforced shutdown.
This will be only the third meeting between the two sides with Bayern winning all of the first two. The first meeting this season ended 2-1 in favour of Bayern.
Sunday’s other game
-Koln vs Mainz 05 @4:30pm
Bundesliga results: Saturday, 16-05-2020
-Dortmund 4-0 Schalke O4
-Hoffenheim 0-3 Hertha Berlin
-Dusseldorf 0-0 Paderbon
-Augsburg 1-2 Wolfsburg
-RB Leipzig 1-1 Freiburg
-Frankfurt 1-3 Monchengladbach
Bundesliga upcoming fixture
Monday, 18-05-2020
-Werder Bremen vs Bayer Leverkusen @9:30pm
