bundesliga

Robert Lewandowski rescues Bayern Munich a point at Union Berlin

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Robert Lewandowski salvaged Bayern Munich a point from their trip to Union Berlin after Grischa Prömel's early header almost earned Urs Fischer's men a win their performance would arguably have merited.

Union Berlin 1-1 Bayern Munich
Goals: 1-0 Prömel (4'), 1-1 Lewandowski (67')

Union showed little respect for the status of their illustrious guests, immediately peppering Manuel Neuer's goal with shots that the Germany No.1 did well to keep out. Even he could not survive such an intense onslaught, though, and Prömel's header from Christopher Trimmel's corner beat him after just four minutes. Serge Gnabry's control let him down when he was put clean through on Andreas Luthe's goal, and well poised to level, but a poor first touch saw the chance wasted. The same could not be said of the fine control of the ball Taiwo Awoniyi showed to take Sheraldo Becker's pass in his stride and race away from the Bayern defence, but his finish lacked the same composure as he screwed his shot wide of Neuer's goal. It was then Lewandowski's turn to fluff his lines in front of Luthe, stumbling to the ground instead of getting in a shot as Union went into the break ahead.

Kingsley Coman did manage to get in a shot late in the first half, and he had the first chance of the second 45 minutes too, suggesting a backs-to-the-wall effort may be the best approach for the hosts to defend their lead. Urs Fischer's men take their club's 'iron' nickname seriously, though, and the same Becker-Awoniyi axis almost produced a second goal. Trimmel chipped a delightful pass under Awoniyi's nose as the hosts continued to combine courage with confidence, but Neuer was quick off his line to clear the danger, before Becker flashed a shot wide. Luthe remained alert to make two instinctive saves before Coman blazed a trail around the back of the Union defence to tee up Lewandowski for his 249th Bundesliga goal, and Bayern were level. Any presumptions that the record champions would subsequently overwhelm their hosts could not have been further from reality as Union continued to pose a consistent and considerable threat on the counter-attack. Keita Endo and Marvin Friedrich both gave Neuer some work to do as Union went closest to taking all three points in a stalemate they would arguably have been more disappointed about than their guests, although they had to thank Luthe for making a stunning save from Sane at the death to preserve that point.

Match stats

  • Thomas Müller made his 555th appearance in a Bayern shirt - only Sepp Maier, Oliver Kahn, Gerd Müller and Franz Beckenbauer have more.
  • Lewandowski made his 200th Bundesliga appearance, with 175 goals to his name – 21 more than Gerd Müller scored in his first 200 league outings.
  • Prömel became Union's 12th different goalscorer this season. They have now had more names on the scoresheet than any other Bundesliga club this term.
  • Bayern have scored a club record 35 goals after 11 matches.
  • Lewandowski has scored once in each of his three Bundesliga appearances against Union. He needs just one more to reach 250 Bundesliga goals.
  • Müller is the only outfield player at Bayern to have started every league game so far this season.

Watch: Prömel: "It's strange to think we could have beaten Bayern"

Line-ups

Union: Luthe - Trimmel (c), Friedrich, Knoche, Lenz - Griesbeck (Ryerson 71'), Prömel - Becker, Ingvartsen (Teuchert 36'), Bülter (Endo71') - Awoniyi (Gentner 90'+1)
Unused subs: Karius, Gogia, Gießelmann, Maciejewski
Out: Andrich (suspended), Hübner (groin), Kruse (thigh), Pohjanpalo (ankle), Schlotterbeck (thigh), Ujah (knee)
Coach: Urs Fischer

Bayern: Neuer (c) - Pavard, Boateng, Alaba, Davies - Goretzka (Tolisso 76'), Musiala (Sane 63') - Gnabry (Choupo-Moting 88'), Müller, Coman - Lewandowski
Unused subs: Nübel, Costa, Sarr, Hernandez, Roca, Richards
Out: Kimmich (knee), Martinez (thigh), Süle (knee)
Coach: Hansi Flick

Watch: Boateng: "We started very badly"