Union Berlin Vs Bayern Munich [2–2] – Bundesliga 2025/2026: Steffen Baumgart Man-Marking Masterclass Stalls Vincent Kompany – Tactical Analysis

Bayern Munich are obviously heavily favoured to win the Bundesliga again this season after winning nine out of 10 games to start the season.

Still, their impressive run is not the current starting record in the Bundesliga.

Vincent Kompany’s team is incredibly dominant, but so were many FC Bayern teams over the years; 13 out of the 15 best starts after 10 matchdays belong to the club from the Bavarian capital.

At the top of the list is their team from the 2015/2016 season, managed by Pep Guardiola, who won all 10 of the first games of the season.

Now, on Gameweek 10, exactly a decade later, FC Bayern and Kompany travel to the German capital to face off against Union Berlin to tie the best start to a Bundesliga season ever.

While they were heavily favoured in this game as well, everyone knew that it would not be as easy as it might seem.

Union under Steffen Baumgart have been a very obnoxious team to play against; they defend hard, play very physically, and are not afraid to be the underdog.

So, the stage was set for a very rough game on a cold afternoon in Berlin, and Union managed to fight for their lives, and FC Bayern barely was able to scrape by with a last-minute draw, ending the game 2-2 and missing out on the best start to a season of all time.

In this tactical analysis article, we will examine how Union managed to thwart the most dangerous attack in the Bundesliga, the tactics employed by Steffen Baumgart, why FC Bayern struggled so much, and what tactical solutions Vincent Kompany devised to salvage the game.

Union Berlin Vs Bayern Munich Formations & Lineups

Steffen Baumgart and his Union side are not playing on the international stage this season, so he can keep rotation to a minimum and play his best eleven in games like these.

In goal, Frederik Rönnow got the start with a back-three in front of him consisting of Danilo Doekhi on the right, Leopold Querfeld in the centre, and Diogo Leite on the left side.

The left wing-back was, once again, Tom Rothe; the right wing-back spot was occupied by Jannik Haberer for the third time in a row; the central midfielder might have found a new home there.

Holding midfield was played by Aljoscha Kemlein, with Andras Schäfer and Rani Khedira playing as the two central midfielders next to him.

In attack, Oliver Burke and Ilyas Ansah formed the two-man strike partnership, capping off the usual 5-3-2 formation for Baumgart.

For the away team, Vincent Kompany and his men faced PSG during the week.

Still, given the depth of their squad and the impending international break, the Belgian manager decided against a heavy rotation.

Manuel Neuer started in goal with a back-four of Josip Stanisic, Jonathan Tah, Dayot Upamecano, and Konrad Laimer defending the space right in front of him.

Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich played as the double-pivot in midfield, with Serge Gnabry playing as the attacking midfielder in front of them.

Luis Díaz played as the left winger again, after getting sent off and scoring a brace in the UEFA Champions League, while Michael Olise played his usual part on the right wing for FC Bayern.

In attack, incredibly in-form and current Bundesliga top-scorer Harry Kane got the start for Vincent Kompany in the usual 4-2-3-1 formation.

Union Berlin Work Against The Ball

Considering what was expected to happen in this game, it was no secret that Bayern would dominate possession.

At the same time, Union would try to defend as well as possible and attempt to counterattack and exploit their attacking set-pieces.

Steffen Baumgart had his men prepared for a rough game, given that Kompany’s team averages about 65% possession in their Bundesliga games, so they had to devise a good plan against the ball, and they did.

Instead of just being passive and always falling back into a deep block, Union played with a midfield press, being very aggressive around the halfway line.

They were very physical in the duels, sometimes even too much so, but with their style of play, they managed to break the rhythm of the game and never let Bayern get into a flow when they had the ball, which was the key throughout the first half of play.

Instead of defending in a 5-3-2 formation, they defended in a 5-2-3 shape, mirroring the shape of their opponent’s build-up.

When building up in line two, Bayern usually drop Kimmich back into the backline and push their full-backs towards the centre, with the wingers very high and wide up the pitch.

Baumgart decided to play man-marking all over the pitch, leading to one of the midfielders, in this case Kemlein, to step up into the attacking line when Kimmich dropped back.

Bayern tried to answer by finding solutions between the lines.

The players on the wings stayed very high and wide, while Kane and Gnabry tried to offer options between the lines, and the full-backs tried to form triangles, but Union just followed them around, being aggressive with defending forward in the half-spaces, especially the two outside centre-backs often stepped up into midfield to apply pressure.

The attacking line stayed narrow, even when Bayern built up in a wider formation, preventing diagonal passes and taking Goretzka out of the game, while the two midfielders used their coverage shadow to block passes down the channel.

In the end, Baumgart forced Bayern in man-to-man situations all over the pitch that way.

Even when they struggled to apply pressure in the first line of play or when Bayern was able to win the 1-v-1 situations with their individual class, Union maintained their aggression.

In the picture above, Bayern attempted a vertical pass towards their inverted full-back, but Union had clear assignments and was able to quickly press.

Looking at the backline, the full-backs stayed wide and covered Olise and Díaz, while the centre-backs were ready to defend forward against the midfielders at all times, always stepping up and always ready to pounce onto the ball.

Stanisic was able to receive the ball here, but instantly was facing the pressure of Schäfter, who did not have to care about anything that happened behind him.

In this case, Rothe was covering the fullback, Laimer, while Leite defended wide against Olise on the wing. Rothe was also able to step up here, ready to press the only passing option for Stanisic quickly.

With their man-marking, the Union players always got into duels and completely broke down any longer phase of possession, if necessary, by fouls or kicking the ball out of play.

Bayern really struggled with that and did not get their usual amount of control.

Union Berlin Counterattacks

Union Berlin also failed to establish any form of control; instead, they created considerable chaos.

While this hindered Bayern from playing in their usual way, it was also a problem for Union, because you can’t just control chaos, even when you are the one creating it.

This meant that Baumgart’s team needed to make the most of the chaos they had created, and they attempted to do so on the counter.

Union did not waste any time when they won the ball; they always looked to play a vertical pass with their first pass, even taking a lot of risks.

Most of the time, they were looking for the midfielder who pushed forward into the attacking line, because he now dropped back a little bit, right in the space between the lines.

This allowed the defenders to often find solutions with diagonal passes to the centre of the field, and from there on the midfielders were able to receive in a half-open stance and carry the ball forward quickly.

From there on, they just looked to get vertical.

Ansah and Burke are both very fast and physical strikers, and both attempt to find space behind the backline with vertical runs, providing the midfielders with options while also pushing the backline towards their own goal.

With Bayern controlling the ball, the far-sided wing was wide open, and Union attempted to exploit the space by switching the play and setting up crossing opportunities for their wing-backs.

The distances were really high, though, so Haberer often struggled with getting there on time.

Vincent Kompany First Idea

Kompany did not want to make significant changes compared to the previous games, and looking back at his team’s performances over the last couple of games, this was an understandable decision.

Bayern attempted to build through a makeshift back three and find solutions between the lines, especially behind Union’s midfield.

They dropped back their inverted full-backs and then let Gnabry and Kane roam between the lines, trying to find vertical passes through the gaps in the midfielders.

Union’s man-oriented press and their absolute lack of interest in keeping their formation intact completely shut down that idea, even when they managed to get the ball into the half-space; Kane and Gnabry instantly found themselves in duels.

Often, they didn’t even manage to get there.

Baumgart’s way of shutting down the centre of the field worked really well, and Bayern were forced to play through their wings more often than not.

Then, the wing-backs had the opportunity to defend forward as well, and Bayern lacked pressure on the backline, resulting in a lot of harsh duels again.

Union completely destroyed any semblance of dominance by Bayern and scored two goals after set-pieces, even though the first one was called back for a millimetre of offside.

Bayern managed to equalise through the individual class of Díaz, and the Colombian even had the opportunity to give them the lead with their only well-played counterattack, but missed his second chance of the game.

Second-Half Adjustments

In the second half, Kompany made a couple of adjustments when Bayern were in possession, which helped them establish more control.

However, Union still proved to be really annoying defensively.

In the end, Union defended well for a really long time and took the lead back again after another set-piece in the second half, giving Doekhi his brace against the German champions.

They switched their build-up from three in the first line to keeping the full-backs flat and building with a back four in the second half.

Kimmich was not dropping back into the backline anymore, but was just close to it.

This allowed Kane and Gnabry to find space in the areas behind the first line of press in the half-space; now they were able to drop back to receive a lot of passes.

Union were surprised by this and was unable to maintain their man-marking system; they were now pushed back and had to play with six players in their backline at times, giving Bayern the numerical advantage.

Bayern were now able to find solutions through the triangle on the wing often.

Gnabry often found himself in space in the half-space, which forced a Union defender to step up, but Gnabry was able to play a lay-off to the wing, where Laimer was already running forward and creating a dynamic that way.

This stretched out the Union block, allowing for more progression in the passing game and getting their full-backs involved.

Bayern were now getting a better grasp on the game.

Kompany now tried to get Gnabry an open foot in the half-space at all times.

Often, they even pushed their full-backs up into midfield and built a narrow triangle in their first line of play, creating a numerical advantage and playing through the two strikers.

Then Gnabry dropped back, received the ball, and had an open foot, ready to carry the ball forward or find a player out of a rotation on the wing.

That way, Bayern were able to get out of the man-coverage and started to avoid the physical duels, which helped them get into the game.

Still, Kompany’s men struggled in the final third and did not create enough good opportunities to overcome the deficit.

In the final minute of stoppage time, Querfeld lost track of Kane for the first time in the game, and the Englishman used the opportunity to tie the game up late and secure a point for FC Bayern.

Conclusion

In the end, the draw feels kind of like a loss for Union Berlin and Steffen Baumgart.

While they focused on their play against the ball, they still managed to limit the opportunities for Vincent Kompany and FC Bayern very effectively, and they were well-prepared.

However, one bad moment in stoppage time cost them two points and saved FC Bayern from a surprising loss.

Union’s man-marking system against the ball worked really well, taking away the rhythm of the game from the Bayern team.

They managed to be very dangerous on their set pieces and scored two goals out of them.

For FC Bayern, it will have been disappointing not to earn the best start ever to a Bundesliga season, but it’s not a back breaker.

They showed good resilience and managed to come back from a deficit twice, and after a rough week, they’ll take the point, considering RB Leipzig lost and Borussia Dortmund drew as well.