Match Awards from Bayern Munich’s 3-2 win over Union Berlin in the DFB Pokal

This one wasn’t pretty. Union Berlin and the referee made life incredibly difficult for Vincent Kompany’s side to do what they do best. Bayern Munich is seemingly running low on fumes as the wins have been far more difficult to earn in recent weeks, and it seems like teams have found the title winners’ weaknesses. Luckily for Bayern, they did enough to leave Berlin advancing to the next round.
Jersey Swap — Leopold Querfeld
Union Berlin could not be represented by just one player in any given match, let alone tonight. Union Berlin and their fans (and perhaps the referee) had one objective and that was to make life as difficult as possible for the Bavarians. Leopold Querfeld is the easy choice for this award with the player’s two crucial goals. While many brush off a penalty goal, I will not as scoring two goals against Manuel Neuer with the pressure of a DFB Pokal match on your shoulders in no small feat, and Querfeld did exactly so.
Der Kaiser — Dayot Upamecano
In a backline that did not put its best foot forward, Upamecano was the one solid piece. This backline is clearly tired and making mistakes, but Upamecano was the exception who held the defense together. This defense badly needs some reinforcement as Davies and Itō will hopefully return to the lineup soon in a large capacity.
Der Fussballgott — Leon Goretzka
Leon Goretzka was thrown into the game to relieve Aleksander Pavlović and it is clear that Goretzka would need to put in a feisty effort to hold off a relentless Union Berlin team. Luckily for Bayern, Goretzka is the ultimate scrappy player to fend off a scrappy Berlin side and Goretzka, while nowhere near perfect, held his own against the home side.
Der Bomber — Harry Kane
The English striker has certainly cooled off in recent matches, as was expected when putting up a near impossible run of form early in the season. Kane proved why he was ultimately brought to the club, to deliver important goals when it matters and he did exactly that. He was only able to take two attempts at goal, and that is a massive kudos to the Union barracks.
Meister of the Match — Own Goals Joshua Kimmich
While it wasn’t a perfect performance from any individual Bayern player, Joshua Kimmich proved himself once again as good ol’ reliable as he led Bayern in a performance that was incredibly frustrating from the team’s point of view. Kimmich provided a solid effort and ultimately provided the key assist for Harry Kane’s goal. It certainly wasn’t the brightest MOTM performance of his, but Union made it hard to look pretty in the German capital on Wednesday.
What do you think about the awards? Who else do you think deserved a shout? Let us know in the comments!
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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