Raphael Guerreiro scored the only goal of the game as Bayern Munich won 1-0 on Wednesday against Union Berlin, whose coach was sent off for striking Bayern forward Leroy Sané.
Nenad Bjelica was red-carded in the 74th minute for twice shoving Sané in the face after the winger demanded the ball from him to take a throw-in. The incident came as several Union players were indignant at having had a penalty appeal turned down shortly before.
“It is not to be tolerated, what I did,” Bjelica told German broadcaster Sky Sport. “Do I understand the red card? Obviously. I was somewhat excited because of the penalty episode that happened.”
Bjelica alleged that Sané had pushed him during the incident.
“He comes into my space to provoke me and obviously I don’t react as I should as a coach,” Bjelica said.
Bjelica could face a lengthy suspension. His team is next in action Sunday against fellow relegation candidate Darmstadt.
Bayern’s win leaves the German champion four points behind league leader Bayer Leverkusen.
Guerreiro’s goal came on a rebound after Harry Kane hit the post barely half a minute into the second half. It was a rare bright spot in a Bayern performance otherwise lacking a cutting edge as the team sought to bounce back from losing 1-0 to Werder Bremen on Sunday.
Kane earlier put the ball in the net for what would have been the England striker’s 23rd goal for Bayern in the German league this season, but it was ruled out for an earlier offside by Sané. Eric Dier made his first appearance for Bayern since joining from Tottenham on loan. Dier replaced center-back Dayot Upamecano, who seemed to be carrying an injury.
“After the last result, the most important thing was to return to the victories and we did that and I think we managed the game very well,” Dier told Sky. “We didn’t give them many transitions and not many chances. I think we managed the game well. Obviously, you’d always want to score more, but today it wasn’t meant to be.”
Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow stopped Bayern from scoring more, especially in an early double save at a corner from first Matthijs de Ligt, then Upamecano.
Union’s only shot on target all game came when Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer saved a Jérôme Roussillon effort in the same passage of play that included the penalty appeal for a possible foul on Union’s Kevin Behrens, shortly before Bjelica clashed with Sané.
Bremen had succeeded Sunday by testing Bayern’s high line with quick, fluid counters from the start, but for most of the game Union lacked the pace and coordination to do more than defend in numbers. Union, which started the season in the Champions League, is 15th in the 18-team Bundesliga and has not scored in either of its games in 2024.
The game was rescheduled from last month because heavy snow in Munich had caused transport difficulties. Union had another game last week at Mainz postponed because of snow and ice.
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