1. FC Union Berlin - Capital Domination

Mate just wanted to say this is fantastic! Great going!!
 

1. FC Union Berlin
November - 2017

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Fixtures:

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We bounced right back into top form in November after a little shaky patch in October. We followed our away win in St Petersburg with a home win over Zenit by 3 goals to nil thanks to a brace from Malcom and one from Hazard. We also won 3-0 in our second Champions League game of the month away to Anderlecht to send ourselves through to the knockout rounds with a game to spare. In the Bundesliga we started the month with a 5-0 battering of Mainz topped off by a brace from Luca Marrone. We then fought our way back from 1-0 down away at Borussia Monchengladbach to lead 2-1 with goals from Fofana and Benteke, only for Gladbach to score a late equailzer and send us back to Berlin with just 1 point. The final game of the month was a rather fortuitous 1-0 win at home to title rivals Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund had the far better chances in the game and should have went ahead in the first half but Destro missed a penalty. As it happens we were able to steal the 3 points with our own penalty in the 84th minute, with Thorgan Hazard managing to do what Destro couldn't and convert from 12 yards.

League Table/Champions League Group:

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Still top of what is a very tight league with Red Bull Leipzig surprisingly only 2 points behind us and less surprisingly Bayern Munchen 3 points behind us, albeit with a game in hand. Ourselves and Real Madrid are both already through from the group, however we will have to beat them at home on the final matchday if we want to take top spot.

Player of the Month - Malcom

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Malcom moved ahead of Benteke in the pecking order for the starting striker role and rewarded my faith by bagging 3 goals in his first starts and averaged above an 8 rating in those 4 games.

Player Stats:

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Thorgan Hazard continues to show how important he is to us and what we will be missing when he moves to Paris in the new year. Sofiane Feghouli has been impressing over the past couple of months and is providing some great competition for places on the right flank with Rojas. With the new transfer strategy in place, a lot of these players are fighting for their future at the club.

Other News:

1) Here are the 3 players who we agreed to sign this month, as highlighted by the article earlier.

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2) We have also agreed to sell Kreilach to Dinamo for £2,000,000 and Kana-Biyik for £1,500,000 to Red Bull Salzburg.

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Next update will probably be a December update, although there may be transfer updates or a match report from the Bayern Munchen game if it feels necessary...​
 

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Further New Arrivals at FC Union Berlin

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The ex German youth international has signed a 4 year deal to move to the capital for a fee in the region of £9,000,000

FC Union Berlin have today announced a further two arrivals to join the club when the transfer window reopens in January.

The bigger of the two signings comes in the shape of Borussia Monchengladbach right winger Patrick Herrmann for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £9,000,000. The pacey wide man has been an ever present in the Gladbach side over the past few seasons however Berlin pounced to bring him in after the injury to Ecuadorian winger Joao Rojas last week which has ruled him out for the next 3 months. The signing also fits in line with the new transfer strategy put in place by the Union Berlin board which aims to have 16 players in the first team squad eligable for the German national team by the start of the 2019/2020 season.

Also joining the club in January is 17 year old defensive midfielder Dusan Krstevski from Bochum for an initial fee in the region of £1,000,000. The young German has been a regular in Bochum's reserve side over the past couple of seasons, however is yet to break into the first team at the 2.Bundesliga side. This has not put off Berlin though, who believe that Krstevski has the potential to develop into a top Bundesliga player with the right coaching.

Next update will be a December review...
​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Dezember - 2017

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Ergebnisse:

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Overall I think I have to be pretty happy with this set of results. We headed to Leverkusen to play Bayer for our first game of the month, no longer scarred of the 9-1 hammering we received there two years ago after beating them 3 times last season. We managed to take all 3 points thanks to a 58th minute winner from Sofiane Feghouli. A 5-0 win over 2nd tier side Osnabruck in the cup to put us through to the German Cup quarter final and a 3-0 league home win over Werder Bremen followed before our final Champions League group game at home to Real Madrid. We needed a win to top the group and we started extremely well when Kostas Stafylidis scored a free kick to put us 1-0 up after 5 minutes. It appeared we were heading for 3 points as Real Madrid weren't really creating much, however a piece of individual brilliance from Isco brought the game level after 73 minutes and he then converted a penalty in the 87th minute as we pushed for a winner to give Madrid the 3 points and to confirm their place as group winners. We then headed to Munchen to play Bayern and we were still a little tired from the Champions League game midweek, which I feel played a role in the 4-0 beating we took. We did bounce back on the final matchday before the winter break by beating Braunschweig 4-0.

League Table/Champions League Group:

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We drop down to 2nd in the league, even on points with leaders Bayern Munchen but they do have a game in hand on us. If we can hold onto a 2nd place finish and improve on our points tally from last year then I'll be happy.

Spieler von die Monat - Kostas Stafylidis

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Another fantastic month for the Greek left back, playing 5 of the 6 games a 7.9 rating or above in 4 of the 5 games played. He also managed to score his first goal for the club with the free kick against Madrid. His good form has not gone unnoticed though, with Jose Mourinho chasing him for his Manchester United side.

Spieler Stats:

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In the battle of the two strikers, Christian Benteke is the one who is scoring the more goals but Malcom is providing the better overall performances. Feghouli has continued to step up in the absence of Rojas through injury, whilst Fofana is developing nicely with the amount of game time he is getting.

Andere Nachrichten:

1) Here are the two new signing we arranged this month. We also agreed a deal to sell goalkeeper Kalinic to Middlesbrough for £3,800,000 (profit of £1,800,000) after I decided we didn't need him any longer with Trapp incoming.

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2) We have been drawn against Manchester City in the Champions League 1st Knockout Round.

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Next update will be a January transfer update, which will look at any further transfer business we do in January...​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Januar - 2018

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Transfers:

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As you can see we've been extremely busy in the transfer window as we try to mould a more German squad. I have already reported most of these transfers so I will only comment on the ones I haven't reported so far.

Firstly, we arranged to bring in a young Colombian centre back a while back and he joined when the window opened. He has the potential to be a star Bundesliga CB in the future and is already a decent CB for this level. We have loaned him out to Hannover 96 in the 2nd tier for the 2nd half of the season to help him acclimatize to German football and get some vital first team experience. We also agreed to bring Serge Gnabry back for a second spell at the club on a bosman, however then decided to take up the buy now option for £1,600,000 as he can offer some key cover in the middle and on the right. We have also agreed a deal to bring in Sebastien Rode from Bayern on a bosman at the end of the season. The final signing was German right back Julian Korb from Borussia Monchengladbach to provide competition with Donati. He also has the advantage of knowing Herrmann from Gladbach and therefore they will already have an understanding of each others game down the right flank.

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The only outgoing transfer this month that I haven't previously reported was the sale of Luca Marrone to Parma for £7,500,000. He arrived for £1,400,000 at the start of our first Bundesliga season and has been a key player ever since. However, the arrivals of Kimmich and Gnabry left me needing to move on a midfielder and the sale of Marrone allowed me to bring in Korb and add another German to the squad.

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Results:

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4 points from these 2 games is not disastrous but I expected 6. The away win at Freiburg involved a great fight back with a 72nd minute equalizer from Seko Fofana being added to by an injury time brace from substitute Benteke to give us the win. The home draw to Kaiserslautern was disappointing and is hopefully a case of many new players still blending into the team and not us missing the creative influence to Thorgan Hazard.

Other News:

1) New signing Dusan Krstevski is already breaking records for the club as he became the clubs youngest ever player to make a first team appearance for the first team after coming off the bench against Kaiserslautern. He is also being tutored by Muhamed Besic and it is for this reason why I didn't choose to send him out on loan.

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Not sure what the next update will be, but what do people think of our transfer business this January and who do you think will turn out to be the best signing?​
 
Great business!!!

Great signings!!!

Cant wait to see what transfer budget you get next season!!
 
Just properly caught up with this mate and really liking the new transfer policy, makes it a bit more challenging and interesting. Keep it going :)
 
Yeti01 said:
Yepes for me looks like he could be a star
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Yeah, he's been doing decently out on loan so far and I think I'll bring him in and around the first team squad next season.

TheGerman said:
Great signings!!!

Cant wait to see what transfer budget you get next season!!
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, spent most (if not all) of the Hazard money but things should be looking very good once the Bundesliga prize money comes in as we're normally in the red by this point of the season but I think we have around £30,000,000 in the bank currently. Only thing which may knock it down a bit is if they finalize the plans for a new stadium at the end of the season as that will surely cost a bit.

cps100 said:
Just properly caught up with this mate and really liking the new transfer policy, makes it a bit more challenging and interesting. Keep it going :)
Click to expand...

Thanks pal, glad you're liking the new transfer policy. As you say it keeps things a bit more interesting and males the youth intakes all the more important.

Got a potentially very good player in the youth intake which will be in an update tonight.
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Februar - 2018

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Fixtures:

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February was a pretty busy month for the club with 7 games played over a 25 day period. In the Bundesliga we managed 4 wins and 1 loss from the 5 games played. The highlight of these games was the 3-2 home victory over Schalke where Koray Gunter bagged himself a brace from centre back and Joshua Kimmich bagged his 3rd goal for the club. The low point was obviously the defeat away to Koln. You can't win them all I suppose. We also comfortably beat Stuttgart 3-0 at home to reach the German Cup semi final thanks to a brace from Kimmich and a goal from Benteke where we will play Dortmund.

The big game this month came on the last day of the month where we played Manchester City at home in the first knockout round. We started the game very well with an 8th minute goal from Marcel Buchel put us 1-0 up after 8 minutes, however that lead didn't last long as Aboubakar levelled he game just under 25 minutes later. The game went pretty quiet after that until substitute Malcom had a glorious chance to give us a lead to take to Manchester in the 84th minute. He fluffed his lines and ultimately we paid for it as Aboubakar's second goal of the game came just minutes later which leaves us having it all to do in the second leg.

League Table:

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We're very much in a battle for the title now with just 10 games to go. We're 2 points ahead of Bayern who are 2nd but they have a game in hand. We should definitely be qualifying for the Champions League for a second season in a row at the very least as we're 11 points ahead of 5th place Hoffenheim.

Player of the Month - Joaquin Correa

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4 goals, 2 assists and 2 man of the match performances for the Argentinian this month as he has proved that he is the man to fill the Thorgan Hazard sized hole in the team.

Player Stats:

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Nice to see Yepes performing well out on loan at Hannover. Benteke has moved onto 18 goals for the season and Kimmich has managed to score 4 in 7 from centre midfield since his move to the club from Bayern.

Youth Intake:

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The hiring of a new head of youth development at the start of the season appears to have been a good decision after a youth intake that presented us with 2 potential future first teamers. Benjamin Timme looks a fantastic prospect for the middle of the park and should improve quite quickly with his 20 determination and driven personality. He needs quite a bit of work on his physicality but he's only 15 so there's plenty of time for that. The other potential first teamer is left winger Thomas Wehner, who has very good starting for an inside forward and I'm looking forward to seeing how he develops. We have also poached a attacking midfielder from rivals Hertha Berlin who looks very promising who will join the club in July.

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Other News:

1) The game against Manchester City saw us break both our attendance record and gate receipt record as the game was played at our rivals Hertha Berlin's Olympiastadion. In the group stages we played at our ground but could only get 7,000 in as the other 18,000 capacity is standing which isn't allowed in the Champions League.The crowd of 52,000 is a promising indicator that we should be getting a much bigger stadium when we get confirmation of our new stadium.

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Next update will be a March update, can we continue to partake in a title battle and will we be able to overturn the 2-1 deficit in Manchester?
​
 
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Brilliant Berlin Put Out City

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The Premier League holders bow out on away goals after Union Berlin win 3-2 on the night at the Etihad Stadium

In the surprise of the round, English Premier League champions Manchester City have been knocked out of the Champions League in the 1st knockout round by Champions League newcomers FC Union Berlin.

Trailing 2-1 from the 1st leg in Berlin, Union knew they would need to start quickly as they needed to match Manchester City's 2 away goals to have any chance of progressing. Their task wasn't made any easier by a depleted Champions League squad after making so many mid-season transfers, however they got the early goal they craved when Christian Benteke rose to convert Kostas Stafylidis' fantastic cross from the left flank in the 22nd minute. It looked as if Berlin were to go into the break 1-0 up at half time but things got even better for them when Marco Verratti slid and brought down Benteke in the box and Benteke converted the spot kick to send Union 2-0 up on the night and heading through on aggregate.

If Union thought things were going well at half time, they were on cloud nine when Danny Wilson rose to head in a Sofiane Feghouli cross in the 60th minute, leaving Manchester City needing 3 goals in the last 30 minutes to avoid going out. This goal seemed to finally click City into gear, with a front three of Aguero, Bony and Aboubakar starting to cause real issues for the Berlin back line. They got their first goal of the evening in the 68th minute through a great Aguero strike and kept piling on the pressure. Kevin Trapp was in inspired form in the Berlin goal, making save after save and by the time City had their second goal in the 91st minute, Manchester City didn't have the time to score the all important third goal and were exiting the competition on away goals. If Union want to progress any further in the competition, they will have to knock out Spanish champions Barcelona in the quarter final, with the first leg to be played at Hertha Berlin's Olympiastadion on the 3rd of April and the return leg in Barcelona 8 days later on the 11th.

Next up will be the March review...

​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
März - 2018

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Fixtures:

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A perfect month for us this time around with 4 wins from 4 in the Bundesliga and the fantastic performance in Manchester to qualify for the Champions League quarter finals. It's important to see we are scoring goals at ease at this point in the season, with 14 scored in 5 games. This is especially important considering we have only kept the one clean sheet in the 5 games. The highlight of the league games was the 2-0 away win at 5th placed Hoffenheim, with goals coming from Malcom and Correa.

League Table:

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To be honest in previous updates when I've talked about us being in a title battle I never really believed it and always expected we would fall away. However, with 6 games to go we lead Bayern at the top of the league by 2 points and there is a very real chance that we can win the championship this year. We don't have the easiest of run ins with a home game against Bayern and an away trip to Dortmund, however the result against Manchester City shows we can beat anyone on our day and should we manage to beat Bayern in May then I think we probably will win the league!

Player of the Month - Malcom

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4 goals this month from the diminutive Brazilian striker, proving he can make an impact both from the start and off the bench.

Player Stats:

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To think I was worried about replacing Hazard, just look at that form from Correa. Replacing Hazard with Correa and gaining £27,500,000 in the process may just be some of the best business I have ever done on FM. His good form has not gone unnoticed, he made his Argentina debut this month and is now worth over £18,000,000.

Other News:

1) Somebody at Manchester City must have been impressed by our performance against them in the Champions League as I was offered an interview about their job just a week after putting them out. Naturally I declined the opportunity.

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Next update will be an April review, with 4 of our last 6 league games to play and both legs of the Champions League quarter final against Barcelona, April will go a long way in deciding just how successful our season will be...​
 
Just caught up with this, always love your stories mate and this one's no different. Fantastic stuff

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 

1. FC Union Berlin
April - 2018

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Fixtures:

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A busy month with both highs and lows but ultimately I think we have to be happy with how it went. In the Champions League Barcelona would prove to be too strong strong for us, twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 in Berlin and then smashing us 4-0 back at the Nou Camp in the 2nd leg. It was a different story in the German cup though, as a first half 5 minute brace from Christian Benteke led us to a 2-0 home victory over Dortmund and put us in a third consecutive German Cup final. The first league game of the month saw us disappointingly draw 1-1 at home to Borussia Monchengladbach despite controlling the majority of the game. This result saw us surrender our lead at the top to Bayern.

However, we quickly bounced back from this result by winning away at Dortmund 2-1 and then at home to Leverkusen 1-0 either side of the cup semi. An 87th RB Leipzig equalizer against Bayern on the same match day allowed us to jump back to the top of the league and we fought back from 1-0 down at Werder Bremen in the last game of the month to win 3-1 and take a 2 point lead into the final 2 games of the season. It would have been better if Depay had not scored a 92nd minute penalty winner for Bayern against Wolfsburg later in the day. We play Bayern at home in our next game and if we can beat them we will be champions.

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League Table:

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2 points clear with the two games to go. A draw against Bayern would probably be good as we play bottom side Braunschweig on the final day.

Player of the Month - Muhamed Besic

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Probably his best month since signing for the Bosnian international, providing both a shield for the back 4 and a starting point for our attacking phases of play.

Player Stats:

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I'm actually pretty surprised with just how well Fofana has played this season and he had proved extremely good value at just £1,300,000 and £7,000 a week wages. We can make Benteke's loan permanent for £5,000,000 and for some reason he is only on £21,500 a week at Spurs so I'm thinking I will probably do it considering the amount of goals he has scored this season.

Other News:

1) We once again broke our attendance record and gate receipts in our Champions League game against Barcelona. With 67,000 fans in Hertha's Olympiastadion for the big game, I'll be very disappointed if our new stadium is any smaller than say 40/45000.

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Next update will be a match report for the big game against Bayern, can we become German champions for the first time in the club's history?​
 
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1.FC Union Berlin vs Bayern Munchen - Live Updates

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1 - Bayern get the game under way. Remember, if Berlin win today they will win their first ever Bundesliga championship.

4 - Goal to Berlin. But it has been disallowed. Buchel slotted the ball through to Benteke who lifted the ball above the advancing Manuel Neuer but the linesman had his flag up and the goal is ruled out for offside.

6 - Berlin have flew out of the blocks today. Correa weaves his way into the box and curls one towards the far corner but Neuer makes a good save.

7 - Another chance for Berlin as Neuer saves a strike from Buchel.

10 - A warning for Berlin as Lewandowski finds a yard of space and releases a powerful shot which Trapp has to tip round the corner.

25 - How are Union not 1-0 up. Manuel Neuer makes a fantastic sprawling double save from Benteke and the Feghouli to keep the game level. Unbelievable stuff.

27 - Alaba goes close from a free kick but Trapp was equal to it.

29 - GOAL. Joaquin Correa played his corner short to Feghouli who crossed to Mustafi to make it 1-0. The Stadion an der Alten Fosterei is bouncing.

40 - Great save from Trapp. Muller crossed from the right and Lewandowski turner the ball towards goal. He really should have done better and it's a warning for Berlin just before half time.

HALF TIME - Berlin take a 1 goal advantage into the second half. If results stay the same then Berlin will be crowned champions.

47 - Mustafi nearly makes it 2 after hitting the bar from exactly the same corner routine which brought the first. Bayern need to switch on from set pieces here.

52 - Concern here for Berlin star winger Correa who has went down under a heavy challenge. He is having to come off and I doubt he will make the German cup final in 2 weeks.

54 - RED CARD. The game may just have changed in 2 minutes here as backup left back Cuevas has been sent off for a second yellow card and Berlin are down to 10.

54 - GOAL. The game has been turned on its head. Bayern are level after the free kick won was played into Lahm and he converts to make it 1-1.

61 - RED CARD. Crazy scenes here as Berlin are now down to 9 after right back Donati is sent off for a horrible lunge. An absolutely ridiculous tackle to make in the situation and the Berlin manager is bellowing at him as he heads down the tunnel. It will be incredibly difficult for Berlin from here.

69 - This time it's Kevin Trapp's turn to make a great double save as Gotze goes close to making it 2-1.

75 - Berlin are down to 8 men here. Benteke is injured and needs to come off but they have made all their substitutions dealing with the other injuries and red cards.

76 - The 8 men of Berlin nearly take the lead as American winger O'Shea grazes the bar with a free kick. Surely they can't hold on, can they?

81 - Off the line! Lewandowski breaks into the box and his shot beats Trapp only to be cleared off the line by Mustafi. 10 minutes to go.

87 - GOAL. Robert Lewandowski sends the away fans into raptors as he bends one into the top corner from the edge of the box. Bayern now jump a point above Berlin in the league

88 - DISALLOWED GOAL. Unbelievable. The 8 men of Berlin thought they had an unthinkable equalizer through Marcel Buchel but he was offside. That's 2 injuries, 2 red cards and 2 disallowed goals for Berlin today for anyone who is counting.

91 - GOAL - Union Berlin had to go and chase the equalizer but they get caught on the break and Lewandowski has his second of the game.

92 - GOAL. This is harsh on Berlin as they are dead on their feet from chasing the ball. Lewandowski has a 4 minute hatrick and Munchen lead 4-1.

FULL TIME - A crazy game here in Berlin ends 4-1 to Bayern Munchen and places them in the driver seat for the title battle on the final day. All they need to do is beat Hamburg at home next week and they will retain their title. Things couldn't really have gone worse for Berlin with an injury to star man Correa, 2 red cards and a defeat. One things is for sure, you will definitely want to catch the highlights of this game when you get home tonight! Well, as long as you're not a Union Berlin fan that is.

Next update will be a quick May update, can we beat Braunschweig and put a little pressure on Bayern?

​
 
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