Five goals, none from play, two in the wrong goal – Union Berlin and Bayern Munich delivered a round of 16 full of oddities in the DFB Cup. With the record champions as the lucky winner. After the hosts scored two own goals from Ilyas Ansah (12th minute) and Diogo Leite (45th) and Harry Kane scored after a goalkeeper error (24th), Bayern won 3-2 (2-1), Union’s Leopold Querfeld converted two penalties (40th/55th).
Before the game, Steffen Baumgart’s recipe for victory had sounded pretty simple, albeit strenuous. “Run, run, run”said the Union coach on “ZDF” about what it would take to pull off a surprise against FC Bayern, who had already had big problems at the Alte Försterei in a 2-2 draw in the Bundesliga 25 days earlier. And the statistics also speak for this, as the Munich team dropped points this season when they ran less than their opponents.
Union runs, but hurts itself
Baumgart spoke and his team implemented it. The hosts pressed the record champions, doing it like in the Bundesliga, when the “Iron” exerted so much pressure that they even took the lead twice before Kane at least gave Bayern a point in the 90th minute. This time too, the favorites had difficulties with their enormous desire to run and attack, but Union didn’t make enough use of high ball wins.
And then the Berliners themselves destroyed their efforts. Joshua Kimmich brought a corner into the middle, where goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow misjudged and blocked Ansah’s view as he flew into space, so that the ball bounced off his thigh and into his own goal (12th). This action was not only a blessing for Munich because of the lead, but the game also tipped in the guests’ direction.
Rönnow makes a mistake again, Querfeld makes it exciting again
The decisive factor came at the corner flag in front of the Union block and still had a lot to do with Rönnow. With a ricochet, the Dane took the second Bavarian corner, which again brought Kimmich into the middle and this time landed exactly on the head of Kane, who gave Munich the 2-0 (24th). What made this corner double even more annoying: In the Bundesliga, Union conceded a goal in the final minute against 1. FC Heidenheim from such a situation in a 2-1 defeat.
Andras Schäfer would have managed to bring back Berlin’s hopes immediately after conceding the second corner goal of the day, but his left-footed shot from 17 meters whizzed just past the corner of Manuel Neuer’s goal (25th). The goal still came in the 40th minute – and again from a stationary ball. After a long throw-in, the ball bounced on Jonathan Tah’s arm and there was a penalty – which he uncompromisingly converted across the field with the full instep to make it 1-2.
FC Bayern with 500 percent Exploitation of opportunities
But we didn’t go into the dressing room with this score – because Union struck again on the wrong side. Rönnow went wrong again on a free kick cross, but this time it was because Leite let the ball slip in front of him over his head for Berlin’s second own goal (45th + 4). Bayern had impressed so many times this season, but this time the simple things of football were enough for coach Vincent Kompany’s team.
The statistics also showed that Bayern didn’t need much so far in the evening because they got a lot of help. At halftime, Union was ahead with 9:4 shots on goal, and even with 1.14:0.60 in expected goals – meaning Munich scored five times the probability of scoring from their (few) chances. Thanks to the two Union own goals.
Kane makes it possible to cross the field 911 double pack
But FC Bayern was also in a giving mood that evening. When another harmless ball sailed into their own penalty area, Kane smashed his elbow into Leite’s face, and for the second time the hosts were rightly awarded a penalty – why Bayern complained about this in epic proportions was incomprehensible. Crossfield was not impressed by these protests at all, this time he spotted Neuer and calmly pushed the ball into the goal (55th).
The game continued as strangely as in the first half, almost nothing happened from the game. Then Kane had a good moment from the ongoing operation, but so did Rönnow – after his uncertain actions, he showed his class when the Englishman shot from the edge of the penalty area (62nd). Otherwise, Union put Bayern under stress again “run, run, run”the game was completely open.
Querfeld narrowly missed the equalizer and hat-trick
And it was almost equal, but Neuer reacted strongly to a shot from Schäfer in the near corner (70′). This action was also the result of the Baumgart team becoming increasingly stronger and Bayern making an unusually large number of mistakes. Nevertheless, Luis Diaz had a great chance of making the preliminary decision, but Rönnow held and Leite finally cleared behind him (74th).
The final phase was extremely exciting, the mood at the Alte Försterei was boiling, but Union were no longer able to equalize – because a crossfield header was only a few centimeters away, the ball could have even grazed the post (86th). FC Bayern survived an evening that was reminiscent of the ARD show “Bankruptcies, Bad Luck and Mishaps” and still has the chance to reach the DFB Cup final for the first time since 2020.
For now, Munich is back to everyday league life, with the top game at VfB Stuttgart on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.). At the same time, Union is making a short trip from Berlin to VfL Wolfsburg.