Bayern Munich travel to the Alte Försterei as the clear favorite for the top game. Union Berlin only has a tenth of the salary budget of the record champions, but unbelievable morale. In the narrow stadium, the Köpenicker eat up the FCB. Julian Nagelsmann complains about a dramatic loss of energy.
Kingsley Coman dragged his remaining body off the field. Norwegian Julian Ryerson had eaten him up 73 minutes earlier. "Well defended in the end," said the 24-year-old defender from Union Berlin simply: "That's the way it has to be." The 2018 world champion certainly saw it differently. Again and again he got stuck and then wanted to bring the ball into the penalty area from a distance. But they sailed too often into the off. The 22,012 spectators in the Alte Försterei celebrated, pumped up their team, jumped up and yelled.
In the end it was 1:1. Bayern Munich lost the lead in the table that Union Berlin held for exactly three minutes after Sheraldo Becker scored in the 12th minute. In his fifth goal of the season, the Dutchman ran away from the world star Sadio Mané after a free kick by Christopher Trimmel. A little later, Joshua Kimmich first cleared the remains of a choreo from the corner point and then scored the equalizer with a dry shot after several unsuccessful attempts by the home team to defend themselves.
"Grab them, grab them, grab them and chop them up," shouted someone who had come to the stadium with a hubcap prepared as a championship trophy and later joined the rest of the spectators in a not just ironic "German champion is only the FCU". On this glorious late summer day, when light gusts drove the hot days of the last few months out of the city, this club full of resistance fighters once again sent out a signal for the league: Bayern Munich doesn't have to be champions with 90 or more points. You just have to eat them up. Then it will work.
In Köpenick, the laws of football have been repealed since promotion to the Bundesliga in 2019. Relegation, Conference League, Europa League and suddenly even the secret favorite for the title. Which made the club roar with laughter, while after the 6-1 win at Schalke 04 last week before the top game, a huge avalanche of expectations rolled over them.
In the end they didn't care. "You don't cut a club like that out of people's hearts and minds. That's the real capital, that power that a club has or doesn't have," explained President Dirk Zingler, who is not only revered outside of Köpenick, in an interview with the "Berlin newspaper". And therefore, he explained, it doesn't matter whether Wismut Aue, Dynamo Dresden or Bayern Munich are guests.
So they would much rather "enjoy the moment", as stadium announcer Christian Arbeit called out to the people before the game against Bayern Munich, while they indulged in the medieval sounds of In Extremo. "We will win or lose, it doesn't matter. We stand by you. We are so sick with love, thanks to the Union Berlin football club," says the song, which was performed this Saturday for a choreo in the three standing grandstands of the stadium ran. It is these variations of unity that also caused Bayern to stumble. If you have nothing to lose, you can gain everything.
In the 1-1 draw between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich, the hosts brought the eternal champions of the Bundesliga down to their own level, robbed him of his joy and enjoyed watching Bayern suffer. The stadium whipped them forward with violent antiphons and celebrated every duel won.
"We played properly, but not well, which was also due to Union," said Thomas Müller, who had a good view of the game for a long time. The international was on the bench for the first time this season. Of course not, because he had already warned against traveling to the capital the previous week. "You don't like to play there in general," he said last Saturday, so he could already see it coming.
It almost got even worse for Bayern. In a wild final phase, both teams came close to victory, not just the guests, who otherwise always score somehow. As crazy as it sounds, three points for Union would not even have been undeserved. Neither does Bayern. But when is that ever the case?
In the 75th minute, just after international Serge Gnabry had taken Coman's place, Jamie Leweling nudged his opponent Dayot Upamecano in the back on a counterattack. The defender initially kept his feet on his feet, but fell to the ground in the ensuing duel. The German U21 national player, who switched from Fürth to the Spree for four million euros, had turned once too often. Sitting on the ground, Upamecano somehow tried to catch the 21-year-old's leg, but he was already on his way towards the penalty area. There the advance ended on the arms of Manuel Neuer.
Of course, Bayern Munich was still Bayern Munich, a team that can strike at any time and thus win a game. But rarely did they manage to combine through the tight chains of the Unioners. The home team would not be tempted, the Berliners attacked the ball-carrying player in the middle third with two men, then retreated to the penalty area. Rarely were Bayern able to tire their opponents with long phases of possession and tear gaps in their chains. They stood too close together, moved, shifted and acted as a unit.
When Bayern did find a gap, Frederik Rönnow was behind them and saved with a foot against Leroy Sané after 36 minutes and Alphonso Davies after 83 minutes - or with a hand - against the pale Sadio Mané in injury time. "We showed the defensive performance for a top game," said coach Urs Fischer. "Although Bayern had 70 percent possession of the ball, we never became passive. The chains worked very, very well together today."
Captain Trimmel said they didn't let themselves be lured. It did happen once. In the second half, the Austrian let himself be carried away to a heel trick on the center line. There was a big gap on right-back. But then there was the stop sign Rani Khedira, who once again broke an attack.
The brother of the world champion, like the rest of the defensive group around former Wolfsburg player Robin Knoche, showed an impressive performance, breaking wave after wave and leading Bayern to the brink of despair. Only once, when Kimmich scored to make it 1-1, could Bayern celebrate, the rest of the season the Unioners were annoying and chased the sometimes frustrated guests, who stretched their arms to the sky and begged for help. But that was nothing. The start-finish victory in the 60th Bundesliga season gone.
"Ask again after the 25th matchday," said coach Julian Nagelsmann when asked about Bayern's sole dominance. His answers were as short as his pants, which once again wouldn't reach his ankles. "Overall, the energy level wasn't what we had before," he said and, like he did against Gladbach, quarreled with the referee. The free kick before the 1-0 for Union was none, he repeated several times and philosophized about his own football skills and how to flay a standard.
For the opponent, however, he found only words of praise, words at all. Other than an explanation for his team's sudden loss of energy. There could be 1000 reasons for this. One of them was certainly Julian Ryerson. "The atmosphere around it, how we fight for each other, that does something to us. Then you can enjoy it a bit," said the Norwegian and disappeared.
