Bayern Munich hosted Union Berlin on Wednesday in a match rescheduled from Matchday 13 due to a snowstorm. The hosts were coming into the game after a disappointing home defeat against Werder Bremen on Saturday. Bayern fans and Tuchel needed a strong response from the team on the pitch after the weekend's flat performance.
A win in this matchup was crucial as Bayern were sitting seven points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen. Despite this being a must-win game, Bayern had a very slow and nonchalant start to the game.
In a scoreless first half, Bayern's first decent attempt at goal came from a Joshua Kimmich corner in the fifth minute. A swirling ball found the head of Matthijs De Ligt to deliver a rocket of a header, but it only managed to force an impressive save from Union keeper Frederik Ronnow.
After quite a disappointing 40 minutes, Bayern's only other solid attempts came during the five added minutes of stoppage time. Leon Goretzka took a chance at a shot from a distance with a wobbling ball that was deflected directly back into play. With Jamal Musiala arriving at the right place to take the second shot, Ronnow was able to collect the ball before the youngster could make any use of it.
A strange half saw Bayern maintaining nearly 75 percent of possession but were unable to do anything meaningful in the final third. The highlight coming out of the half was Eric Dier officially making his Bundesliga debut.
Bayern looked much sharper in the second half, needing only 30 seconds to break the deadlock against Union Berlin. A fast break saw Harry Kane rattle the post with a close-range shot. With the ball bouncing back into play, Raphael Guerreiro was there to slot the ball into the back of the net. The opening minutes of the second half would be the brightest this Bayern side looked all game.
Apart from a goal from Kane, that was ruled out due to an offside in the build-up, the next most exciting part of this game was Union's manager Nenad Bjelica seeing a red card after shoving Leroy Sane on the touchline. Even though Bayern managed to maintain possession for the remainder of the game, it seemed as though there was still little effort to score more goals.
Bayern Munich went onto to defeat Union Berlin 1-0 in yet another sluggish performance. However, when needed most, the Rekordmeister was able to get a crucial win to keep themselves in the title race. Bayern will have a short turn around with their next match being played at the weekend against Augsburg.