Union Berlin vs. Bayern Munich: Lineups, team news, injuries, how to watch and more!

Match Info

Location: An der alten Försterei, Berlin, Germany

Date: Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025

Time: 8:45pm local time (2:45pm EST)

TV/streaming: ESPN+, Find Your Country

Last month, Union Berlin became the first team in Europe to take points from Bayern Munich this season. Stoppage time theatrics from Harry Kane produced a 2-2 draw to counter Danilho Doekhi’s brace. Union Berlin will get another crack at Bayern in this week’s Round of 16 DFB-Pokal match.

Historically, Union Berlin has never defeated Bayern in 13 Bundesliga matches. Bayern has not been eliminated in the Round of 16 since 2006 in a 4-2 upset at the hands of Alemannia Aachen.

Union Berlin defeated FC Gütersloh (5-0) and Arminia Bielefeld (2-1) to reach the Round of 16. Union Berlin currently sits midtable at 11th place in the Bundesliga.

Team News

Here is the predicted lineup, courtesy of BFW:

For the rest of the season Vincent Kompany will be relying on experience in all big games. Manuel Neuer will return from his two-game DFB-Pokal red card suspension, which means that Jonas Urbig will only play in throwaway Bundesliga games for the rest of the 2025/26 campaign.

Lennart Karl is the biggest omission from this starting XI. He has started the last three games but showed a little fatigue against St. Pauli. Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry, and Luis Díaz should all be rested enough to play at least 60 minutes. Leon Goretzka played a total of 24 minutes against Arsenal and St. Pauli and was subbed at halftime of his last start against Freiburg. Goretzka should earn more minutes against a physical Union Berlin side.

From an injury standpoint, Bayern will be without the services of Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies.

German Steffen Baumgart rarely breaks out of his 3-4-3 standard formation but the 3-5-2 was particularly effective against Bayern last month. Bayern’s weakness on set pieces will once again be in the spotlight as Union Berlin scored both goals in the last meeting from those positions.

Update

Tz has jumped in with this predicted lineup as well (courtesy of @iMiaSanMia), which mirrors our version:

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