Bayern vs Union Berlin: Hosts battling injuries ahead of tricky match
An injury-ravaged Bayern will look to try to balance their squad ahead of their must-win UCL tie next week.
Bayern first, however, will hope to avoid slipping up when Union Berlin come to town on Saturday. So far, the visitors are just one of two sides who haven’t lost to die Roten in the Bundesliga. Earlier this season, Urs Fischer’s men managed to hold the reigning champs to a one-all draw, and they’ll be hoping to pull off an upset on Saturday afternoon.
Hansi Flick is facing a huge injury crisis ahead of this match. The biggest absentee, of course, is top striker Robert Lewandowski. Before his knee injury, the 32-year-old Polish superstar was a sure bet to beat Gerd Muller’s long-standing record. With 35 goals, he’s still likely to do it, but he’ll need to come roaring back – and quickly – as there are only seven more games to go between now and the end of the season. And Lewandowski’s not expected to return until sometime later this month, meaning that he will be under a lot of pressure to find the back of the net as soon as he returns to action.
In short, it’s possible that he again may be cruelly denied this opportunity once again, although he’s a sure bet to win the top scorer prize for another consecutive season. Meanwhile, Bayern’s hopes at defending their Champions League title are also in danger after losing the first leg to PSG in a five-goal thriller. While die Roten scored twice, they conceded three times, and it’s hard to see Les Parisiens not scoring at the Parc des Princes next week.
But back to those injury worries for the hosts. In addition to Lewandowski, Flick will have to make do without Corentin Tolisso (thigh), Douglas Costa (metatarsal), Serge Gnabry (COVID-19), Leon Goretzka (thigh), Theo Hernandez (stomach injury), and Niklas Süle (thigh). And Alphonso Davies also misses out due to a two-match ban. Bayern’s manager may also opt to give Thomas Muller a rest here, as he’s going to need him fit for the must-win UCL game in Paris next week. And besides, Bayern are already seven points clear on top of the table, thanks to their crucial 1-0 win over Leipzig last week. If history is to serve as any indicator, no team have been able to come back from a seven-point deficit, so there’s no way, at this point, that Bayern could end up losing the league title.
Even if they do manage to drop a point, or three, in this match. All they do need, actually, is to win five of their next seven games. And it’s hard to see them not doing so, injuries to key players or not.
Union Berlin, for their part, also are missing several players, with Niko Giesselmann (shoulder), Anthony Ujah (knee), Sheraldo Becker (ankle), Taiwo Awoniyi (thigh), and Leon Dajaku (foot) all not expected to make the trip to the Allianz Arena. The visitors have lost just six times all season, an impressive return as that’s better than any other side in the Bundesliga – save for Bayern (3), Leipzig (4), Wolfsburg (3), and Frankfurt (3). All four of those teams, however, do occupy the Champions League slots. The problem is, they’ve dropped quite a few points in too many draws – no team have drawn as many times as Union have (12 times). Still, if they can get a result here, they could potentially start to force their way into contention for a Europa League spot.
Could they get it done? Bayern are, as noted before, dealing with injuries, and they’ll certainly be distracted with their very tough test against PSG next week…
