Michael ScottWed, December 3, 2025 at 10:59 PM UTC·1 min readLike the classic Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire, Bayern Munich relied on the kindness of strangers to advance past Union Berlin in the DFB-Pokal Round of 16. Union Berlin conceded two own goals in the first half and the mountain proved too high to climb.
In the month of November, Bayern developed a reputation for being unable to handle set pieces. Bayern reversed their fortunes against Union Berlin where all three Bayern goals came from dead ball kicks.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“We know playing here in Berlin is always difficult – a lot of long balls, second balls, duels, fighting,” said Konrad Laimer (via @iMiaSanMia). “I thought we did well in the first half, we scored from set pieces, but conceded two penalties which made the game complicated. We’re aware that set pieces are an important topic in football, so I’m happy we managed to use them to our advantage today. In the end cup games are all about advancing to the next round.”
Granted, Union Berlin’s goals were technically set pieces. Both penalty kicks were the direct result of Bayern mistakes rather than Union Berlin creations.
As for the next opponent, Laimer does not have a preference but cheekily added “a home game would be nice.”
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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