Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs. 1. FC Union Berlin preview: Hosts aim to recover from last week’s debacle

Bayer Leverkusen host Union Berlin in the first BayArena matchup of the season.

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Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin hope to register their first wins of the Bundesliga season on Saturday. Union Berlin avoided defeat with Tim Skarke’s injury-time strike in a six-goal thriller against Eintracht Frankfurt last week, while the hosts were stunned by debutants Elversberg.

Bayer Leverkusen

Carles Martínez had the worst possible start to his Bundesliga debut as Leverkusen were three goals behind at a club experiencing the stage for the first time. Late goals from strikers Patrik Schick and Christian Kofane reduced the deficit, but they weren’t able to take anything from the game.

The Spaniard coach will now hope to avoid the fate of Erik ten Hag, who was relieved of his duties after picking up a single point from the first two matchdays last term. However, that rushed decision was mostly to do with off-the-pitch matters.

Team News

Moussa Diaby is a candidate for the starting lineup in his second debut for Leverkusen. The French winger is the top scorer in this fixture with five goals. Fellow new signing Guéla Doué has to wait a bit longer for his first Bundesliga experience. Robert Andrich could be back in the squad against his former club.

Union Berlin

The Irons were also involved in a high-scoring encounter in the opening matchday of the season. Emmanuel Latte Lath only needed three minutes to open his Bundesliga account before Younes Ebnoutalib’s hat-trick put Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 ahead at Alten Försterei.

The battle between two new managers ended in an entertaining 3-3 draw as the hosts scored two late goals to save the day. Mauro Lustrinelli led FC Thun to back-to-back league titles, but his first assignment here is to keep the capital city club in the Bundesliga.

Team News

Frederik Rønnow will be back in goal after his injury absence gave Matheo Raab only his second Bundesliga appearance. Andrej Ilić, who extended his contract last month, is also ready for his first game of the season.

Head-to-Head

In the last head-to-head fixture, Union Berlin ended a 10-game winless run against Leverkusen. Rani Khedira scored the only goal of a hard-fought encounter that saw three players substituted off due to injuries. However, Die Werkself are unbeaten at home against the club that rose to Bundesliga in 2019 as they kept cleans

Predicted Lineups

Click here to see our predicted Bayer Leverkusen vs. Union Berlin lineups.