Overview
Vincent Kompany's Bayern Munich continues to affirm their dominant position in the Bundesliga this season, with superior attacking power helping them create a significant gap in the standings.
When the 2025-2026 season has only 8 rounds left, the Bavarian team has left their arch-rival Borussia Dortmund 9 points behind in the championship race. The foundation for that dominance is the explosive attack, which has scored 93 goals.
However, the 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen last weekend partly caused Bayern to suffer personnel losses, as Luis Diaz and Nicolas Jackson both received direct red cards. This means that the top team will be missing these two stars in the upcoming match.
However, Bayern has only lost one match in the Bundesliga this season - a 1-2 defeat to Augsburg - and they still have a basis to confidently win all 3 points, regardless of any opponent. Quality replacements like Serge Gnabry are fully capable of filling the void left by Diaz.
Bayern's optimism is also strengthened by their impressive form at the Allianz Arena. Kompany's team is on a 5-game winning streak at home, including a 4-1 victory over Atalanta in the Champions League, continuing the crushing match against Borussia Monchengladbach with the same score.
In the opposite direction, Union Berlin once worried fans when starting 2026 with a 7-match winless streak. However, two victories in the last 4 matches have helped Steffen Baumgart's team regain stability.
Most recently, Die Eisernen defeated Freiburg 1-0, almost ending the opponent's hopes of participating in European cups, and also having their second clean sheet match since the victory over FC Koln.
That result helped Union Berlin rise to ninth place with 31 points, creating a 7-point gap with the relegation play-off group, where St Pauli is ranked 16th.
Despite gaining more confidence from their recent victory, Union still has reason to be cautious. The victory over Freiburg is just the first time they have triumphed away from home in 2026.
Previously, Die Eisernen had lost 3 consecutive away matches, and conceded 6 goals in the last 3 matches, including a heavy 1-4 defeat to Werder Bremen.
Personnel situation
Bayern Munich will be without both Manuel Neuer (calf injury) and Sven Ulreich (waist injury) in this weekend's match, so Jonas Urbig is likely to start.
In front of this goalkeeper's goal will be a 4-man defense including Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano, Kim Min-jae and Tom Bischof, in the context that left-back Alphonso Davies suffered a hamstring injury and center-back Jonathan Tah is suspended.
17-year-old talent Wisdom Okpako Mike is out for the rest of the season due to a tendon injury, while Jamal Musiala is having ankle problems, so his ability to play is still uncertain.
In that context, Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl and Michael Olise will likely support behind main striker Harry Kane.
On Union Berlin's side, they also suffered losses when goalkeeper Matheo Raab broke his arm after the match against Freiburg. However, the good news is that number one goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow has recovered from an ankle injury and is ready to start in the upcoming match.
In the midfield, midfielder Andras Schafer is suspended after a red card against Werder Bremen, so Steffen Baumgart will likely use the trio of Rani Khedira, Janik Haberer and Aljoscha Kemlein.
Expected lineup:
Bayern Munich: Urbig, Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Bischof, Kimmich, Goretzka, Olise, Karl, Gnabry, Kane.
Union Berlin: Ronnow, Doekhi, Querfeld, Nsoki, Trimmel, Haberer, Khedira, Kemlein, Kohn, Ilic, Ansah.
The match between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin takes place at 9:30 p.m. on March 21 (Vietnam time).
