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 opponents 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.

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