Vincent Kompany has to commit his Bayern to Union Berlin in the DFB Cup.
Source: Witters
The memories of the most recent business trip to Berlin-Köpenick are still very present at FC Bayern. Coach Vincent Kompany’s team had won all of their first 16 competitive games of the season before failing to leave the pitch as winners for the first time three and a half weeks ago. From Munich’s perspective, the 2-2 draw in the Bundesliga at 1. FC Union should help them win in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup on Wednesday (ZDF live).
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ZDF will show the cup round of 16 between Union Berlin and FC Bayern live on December 3rd, 2025 from 8:15 p.m.
Bayern’s super series is broken. After 16 competitive game wins in a row, the Munich team couldn’t get more than a 2-2 draw at Union Berlin – there was even a threat of defeat.
10.11.2025 | 7:59 min
In any case, Max Eberl considers the experience from the first comparison with the Iron Men this season to be beneficial. Kompany now “doesn’t have to raise his finger and say: ‘Hey, concentrate, you’re going to have a damn difficult game ahead of you.’ Because we experienced it ourselves. “So I would see that as a small advantage,” said FC Bayern’s sports director on Tuesday in Munich.
The most important game of the rest of the year is coming up for FC Bayern at the An der Alten Försterei stadium. The agenda still has four more tasks for the people of Munich before Christmas. But only in the cup round of 16 is the evaluation of their entire season at stake. This would be a major flaw if Bayern were to be eliminated and miss their first clearly formulated title goal.
Bayern’s disappointing cup record since 2020
Bayern last won the cup in 2020. Since then, they have usually left the competition early. They now definitely want to do better in their first “final” in Berlin, as sports director Christoph Freund described it.
“It’s good pressure. At some point at the end later in the season we want to feel this pressure again,” said Kompany on Tuesday, probably referring to the desired final on May 23rd in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Then the pressure “may be increased again”.
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Kompany sees the pressure as positive
In any case, the coach thinks the special tension in a knockout game is helpful. Kompany said: “This pressure is mostly positive for us.” But he also knows:
I can’t talk us into the final. I hope we can show how much we want to get there.
Bayern-Trainer Vincent Kompany
It is also the most important remaining game of the year for Bayern because they would probably remain top of the Bundesliga even if they lost the remaining three league games before Christmas. And in the Champions League they would also have a good chance of reaching the round of 16 despite a possible defeat against Sporting Lisbon. Only in the cup there would be no possibility of correction.
Bayern’s latest dip in form
Recently, however, the Munich team had experienced a dip in their form. In the 2-2 draw at Union, they had just saved a point after being two behind with Harry Kane’s equalizer in the third minute of stoppage time. Even after that, in the 6:2 against Freiburg, the 1:3 defeat at Arsenal and most recently in the 3:1 against St. Pauli, which was also only won in stoppage time, Bayern always fell behind.
They were particularly vulnerable in standard situations. These resulted in five of the eight goals conceded in the last four games.
Union Berlin is one step further with a bang. Brave Bielefeld forces the Bundesliga club into extra time, in which the Berliners score the decisive goal.
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Union Berlin dangerous when it comes to standards
All of this could mean a tricky task for Union, especially since Steffen Baumgart’s team in the Bundesliga is best at scoring goals from set pieces. She also scored her goals in the 2-2 draw against Bayern.
Kompany doesn’t want to experience that again. He would like his team to only take the final phase as an example from the most recent comparison. “What we showed at Union in the last five minutes, we can show it again,” he said. At least that’s what they like to remember about FC Bayern.
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The today show reported on this topic on December 2nd, 2025 at 7 p.m.