Football | The league's shooting gallery

Union captain Christopher Trimmel (l.) was also mostly only able to watch the Bayern offensive. Photo: imago/Ulmer/Team photo “Only three more, only three more,” roared the FC Bayern fans in the south curve of the Munich football arena. In the home game against 1. FC Union Berlin, the outstanding Michael Olise had just increased the score to 7-0 with his third goal. Because there were still 14 minutes to play, one had to fear the worst given the disastrous performance of the capital team.

Fortunately, from the guests' point of view, this result remained, although it still took on historically bad dimensions. In the 242nd game in the all-German upper house, Union suffered its heaviest Bundesliga defeat. Until Friday evening, this “honor” belonged to the game at Borussia Dortmund on February 22, 2025, when they lost 6-0 under coach Steffen Baumgart.

Under his successor Mauro Lustrinelli, Union has generally degenerated into a shooting gallery. Keeping a clean sheet was not an option for the Iron Men, even in the inadequate preparation for the season. With 17 goals conceded after four games, Union has set a new negative record in the Bundesliga.

Union only kept up for about 20 minutes. At halftime it was already 3-0. In the second section, Union was completely torn apart. »We have lost discipline and focus. The result has become too high,” said Lustrinelli.   

That didn't matter much to Bayern's top scorer Harry Kane, who scored goals 100 and 101 in his 98th Bundesliga encounter. While Union's defensive chain once again remained holey, merciless Bayern scored three dream goals from distance during the one-sided encounter. »Bayern is of course a team that doesn't stop. That’s just their mentality,” said Union defender Tom Rothe.

The FCU's last defeat came 7-0 on October 7, 2002 in the second division game against 1. FC Köln. It was the last game for the then coach Georgi Wassilew. Five days later, the Bulgarian, with whom the club played its first ever European Cup game 25 years ago at Haka Valkeakoski (1-1), was fired by President Heiner Bertram.

Lustrinelli may still have credit in the present. Both President Dirk Zingler and Managing Director Horst Heldt want to give the Swiss more time for his tactical changes. Lustrinelli was allowed to bring three assistant coaches with him. However, the new coaching team has not yet been able to show any noticeable progress. The prospect of improvement compared to last season, which ended in eleventh place, is modest.

At least most Union professionals can now take a deep breath after the false start to the season. At the start of the three-week international match phase, there are four training days from Sunday to Wednesday for all players who are not traveling with their national team.

Training will begin again on Thursday. On Saturday, Union will play in Rijeka, Croatia, for the farewell game of former Union captain Damir Kreilach. The game against his hometown club FC Rijeka will kick off at 7:17 p.m. because the Croatian used to wear number 19 at Union and 17 at Rijeka.

Around 850 Union fans will take part in the “short vacation” from the previously frustrating league operations. During his time in Berlin between summer 2013 and January 2018, Kreilach gained great popularity in 157 competitive games with 33 goals.

After returning from Croatia, Union still have two weeks to prepare for the home double pack on October 10th against SV Elversberg and on October 17th against Borussia Dortmund. These games against the promoted team Elversberg, which got off to a strong start, and Champions League participants Dortmund do not guarantee points either. The squad, which obviously lacks quality, will not suddenly improve until then. 

In view of the current and future investments in construction projects and for the Union women, who also play in the Bundesliga, there was probably not enough money to give the men more than the six new signings.

So far, there has been little input from defenders Marvin Friedrich, Zeno van den Bosch and Felix Uduokhai, midfielders Michel Aebischer and Kastriot Imeri and attacker Emmanuel Latte Lath. Friedrich was also missing in Munich due to injury. Imeri was in the squad for the first time, but remained on the bench for the entire season.

In attack, Union is eagerly awaiting the return of Andrej Ilic and Oliver Burke, who had to miss again in Munich due to injury. It remains to be seen whether they will be fit after the international break. If the defense cannot be stabilized, their comeback will be of little use. 

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