Matchday 9: FC Bayern Munich 2-1 1. FC Union Berlin

Polter penalty! source: Bild

FC Bayern Munich: Neuer; Kimmich, Pavard, Boateng, Davies; Thiago, Coutinho (Goretzka), Muller; Perisic (Tolisso), Lewandowski, Coman (Gnabry)

1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Subotic, Friedrich, Lenz; Kroos (Becker), Andrich, Gentner; Ingvartsen (Ujah), Andersson (Polter), Bülter

Goals:
Bayern: Pavard (13), Lewandowski (53)
Union: Polter (86) 

It’s been a weird season so far in the Bundesliga. Borussia Mönchengladbach currently sit top of the table, with SC Freiburg and Wolfsburg also occupying Champions League qualification spots. Meanwhile, the usual suspects in the title race continue to drop points and just look generally unimpressive against sides that they would typically dominate. The result has been a far more exciting start to the season than we’ve had in quite some time, even if we’re only nine matches in with plenty of time left for Bayern to get, like, Gareth Bale on loan and just steamroll over everyone else again.

Speaking of Bayern: this Saturday was their first-ever match against Union Berlin. A trip to the Allianz has the potential to be intimidating for even the biggest and most renowned clubs, but Union Berlin play in the Stadion an der Alten Försterei, which while only about a third the size of the Allianz generates twice the atmosphere. Having been to both stadiums, I did appreciate the glossy and comfortable experience of watching a game at the Allianz, but let’s be real, standing on the terraces of the Gegengerade, roaring along with the Waldseite while developing early-onset lung cancer from all of the cigarette smoking, is way more fun.

While Robert Lewandowski might be having a record-setting start to the season, racking up scoring statistics that essentially confirm that he is currently the greatest striker on the planet, Bayern haven’t looked unbeatable. They’ve been beaten by Hoffenheim and drawn to Leipzig and, more shockingly, Augsburg. With Niklas Süle and Lucas Hernandez sidelined due to injury, the already wobbly Bayern defense has been leaking goals left and right. The only reason this hasn’t been a bigger problem for the reigning champions is that Lewandowski can score more goals than they can allow.

That being said, it was always going to be a big ask for Union Berlin to get a result away at Bayern. (The home leg, on the other hand, might be a different story.) Nonetheless, Union Berlin put in an entirely respectable performance and, while they never looked like winning the game, didn’t look completely outclassed either.

Despite having achieved a much-needed win at home against Freiburg using three center backs, Urs Fischer reverted back to his old standby of 4-3-3 for the game against Bayern. Instead of the third center back, Fischer opted to insert Felix Kroos into the midfield for his first start of the Bundesliga campaign, alongside Christian Gentner and Robert Andrich. Perhaps Fischer thought that removing a defender for a midfielder would help the team better retain possession and thus keep the notorious Bayern attack from having so much of the ball. Or, perhaps he thought Kroos would be fired up to play against the team with which his older brother has some bad blood...

The center backs were, in my mind, the first-choice pairing -- Neven Subotic and Marvin Friedrich -- flanked as usual by Christopher Trimmel and Christopher Lenz. And the same front three from the Freiburg game retained their spots, which makes sense considering two of the three scored wonder goals in that game.

Speaking of wonder goals: I remain unconvinced by Benjamin Pavard’s abilities as a defender (keep in mind, he played for the Stuttgart side that was relegated by Union in the playoff before joining Bayern this fall) but the kid can score golazos, something that he, unfortunately, did against Union in the 13th minute. It was a rocket from distance that easily beat the entire backline and goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz.

Yet for the rest of the first half, Union’s defense appeared up for the lofty challenge of keeping Robert Lewandowski away from the ball, and as a result, they went into the halftime break only down one goal -- a not-insurmountable deficit to a team that one imagines thought they could dispatch Union handily (as seen from this woefully misguided social media graphic that made the Bavarian giants look like little more than bullies).

Saturday was also Gikiewicz’s birthday, and one imagines it would have been delightful for him to keep his countryman Lewandowski from scoring. If Lewandowski scored, he would also break Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang’s record for most consecutive matches scored in at the start of the season -- so stopping him would put an end to a phenomenal streak.

Unfortunately, Lewandowski is capable of moments of brilliance that no one on Union Berlin is quite up to handling. In this match, it happened in the 53rd minute, when a Lewandowski pass bounced off an Union defender and back to his own feet. If you’re Lewandowski, you take advantage of that bit of luck and you score. So he did.

Yet five minutes later Union had their own lucky chance to get a goal when a handball in the box resulted in a penalty being awarded to Union. Andersson stepped up and took an absolutely awesome shot. Unfortunately, Neuer made an equally awesome save. One would be shocked and awed if it were any other keeper, but like Lewandowski, Neuer is on another level compared to most others who play in his position, even if one can see his age and injuries beginning to take their toll on his game.

Shortly after that, Urs Fischer threw caution to the wind and started making subs with an eye for scoring a goal. Sheraldo Becker came on for Kroos, with his pace and creativity adding a much-needed spark to the Union attack. I wish he would start every match, but having such competition for the starting spots on the wing -- not to mention the ability to bring on someone with Becker’s skillset as an impact sub -- isn’t a bad thing.

Less than ten minutes later, Fischer also refreshed his front line by bringing on Anthony Ujah for Marcus Ingvartsen and Sebastian Polter for Sebastian Andersson. Seeing Polter take the field reminded me of his bombastic two-goal performance against Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion in the DFB-Pokal last year. Polter is clearly a guy who doesn’t get intimidated on the biggest and brightest of stages, and with a poor start to the season (little playing time, an unfortunate red card), twenty or so minutes against Bayern Munich was a great chance for him to shine.

And shine he did when he won a second penalty for Union after getting dragged down on the edge of the box. This time, Neuer did not make the save. With less than five minutes to go in regular time, Polter had cut the lead to only one goal in the most confidently, classically Polter way possible. I had jokingly tweeted that if Polter scored at the Allianz, the sheer audacity of it would almost make up for not winning. And honestly, it kind of did!

In the end, the game ended 2-1 to Bayern. Yet if one looked at the social media posts from the Union Berlin players after the game, one would almost think they had escaped with at least a point. To go toe-to-toe with the champions and give them a proper fight appears to have given the squad great pride. Hopefully, they can carry that feeling onward as they face SC Freiburg (again) in the next round of the DFB-Pokal Tuesday night.