By Greg Vega 
AEarly Quick Guessing Game: Dmitry Oberlin, Christopher Scott, Joseph Stanisic and Remy Vita play in which football club? To FC Bayern or Union Berlin? You do not have to be ashamed if you really have to guess – then choose the least risky answer: to union. However, as you can already guess, it is not true. This Saturday, Munich coach Hansie Flick said he had to fill his Bundesliga squad at the crucial point of the season and, based on their awareness, would be appointed to the union.
On match 28, Flick gave Oberlin, Scott and Vita a place in the squad for the home game against Union Berlin – and 21-year-old Stanisic, also in the starting line-up. He played left to left defensively and did what one would expect. He held firm, the ball passed when he came to him, and was mostly brisk, running with him every time.
In two decisive shots of the game he was once far away and once close: 18-year-old Jamal Musiala stopped being a newcomer and fired a shot into the back of the net six yards out (68. min). After Bayern were caught in the defensive by throwing on the right (85th), his opponent Marcus Ingwarden also closed when the ball bounced towards the goal from five meters. Bayern only played 1: 1 against Union with a few changes – just one stop before the most important match of the season of the game: Tuesday evening in Paris.
Ghost by misfortune
The newcomers will not play in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, but it is worth mentioning them before that. As temporary staff on the first team, they did not unfortunately stand up to the health and injuries Bayern are currently pursuing. Six players who could be counted in the regulations were missing Saturday: Niklas Cell, Lucas Hernandez, Leon Goretzka, Gorentin Tolisso, Serge Knabri and Robert Lewandowski. In addition, Kingsley Common had to be treated in the first half, and he stayed in the cabin for half the time. But coach Flick later explained: “It was clear he would only play 45 minutes at Kingsley.”
Temporary staff answer the question of what big debate has erupted in Munich for so long: How good and deep is the FC Bayern team really? On Friday, Flick said in a remarkable sentence: “We had a team last year – everyone knows, everyone agrees with me – this year is qualitatively better than the team.” Hassan Salihamidik, the sports director, probably did not unite the team.
Goalkeeper against Union: Bayern youngster Jamal Musiyala (left)
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Image: AFP
This Saturday, as announced, “Next question!” The main issue is the coach’s right to say in the conflict of interests between Flick, who rejected all political questions with the notion, and his superiors, in the transfer results. This Saturday, Flick put up another player who could say this: 20-year-old Diego Dantas from Portugal. A midfielder who can handle the ball brilliantly, but with a high load due to his height (1.68 meters) and weight.
Dantas moved from Benfica Lisbon to FC Bayer last fall – at Flick’s request. He once called Dantas “a project I wanted to tackle.” But despite Flick’s support, Dantas is unlikely to be allowed to stay in Munich.
Now Dantas got Bayer’s first good chance. He sent the ball into the penalty area in the 17th minute, but Berlin goalkeeper Andreas Lotte was on the ball faster than Munich striker Eric-Maxim Saupo-Motting. Only once in the first half did Manuel Neuer have to intervene aggressively: when Marius Boulder came upside down from five meters (23rd). Neuer later said of the game: “It’s definitely very annoying. We played a good game with the team for a long time. We deserve to win. It was bitter. About the coach: “I think Hansie Flick is the perfect coach for us.”
Meanwhile, it should come as no surprise that Bayer’s eleven (Alaba, Boward and Sane were the first to be saved) have never played together like this, will never play together again, and have not played well. She also missed her goal that day as Iguardsen’s goal in the second half followed Musiala’s goal. The seven-point lead over Leipzig is now a five-point lead.