RB Leipzig vs Union Berlin

A place in the DFB-Pokal grand final is up for grabs as RB Leipzig and Union Berlin go head-to-head at the Red Bull Arena in an all-Bundesliga semi-final tie.

Leipzig have found this season’s DFB-Pokal campaign a stroll so far, winning all four matches in the competition by an aggregate score of 11-0. Yet, Union Berlin will be their first top-flight opponent in this year’s edition, which could spell trouble for ‘Die Roten Bullen.’ Indeed, Domenico Tedesco’s men have suffered back-to-back 2-1 Bundesliga defeats to this opposition. Against this backdrop, Leipzig have won all five previous home meetings with Union Berlin, averaging 2.4 goals per game. What’s more, Tedesco’s high-flyers have only lost once in competitive action in 2022, courtesy of a 3-2 defeat away to Bayern Munich in mid-February. Since then, they’ve gone unbeaten in 16 competitive matches (W12, D4), including a walkover of Spartak Moscow in the Europa League knock-outs.

Meanwhile, Union Berlin needed an extra-time winner to squeeze past lower-league outfit Waldhof Mannheim in the DFB-Pokal Round 2. Though their remaining three wins in the competition yielded a single-goal margin, Urs Fischer’s side will take the field in high spirits. They’ve won their last three Bundesliga matches, two of which by multi-goal margins, including a 2-0 home triumph over Europa League hopefuls Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend. But before a 4-1 demolition of out-of-sorts Hertha Berlin on their most recent Bundesliga travel, ‘Die Eisernen’ had lost four consecutive away matches against fellow top-flight rivals without scoring a single goal. That sounds ominous, as they’ve drawn a blank in two of their last three competitive visits to the Red Bull Arena, conceding precisely three goals twice in return.