Bayer Leverkusen vs Union Berlin 05/03/20

5 March 2020

Union Berlin travel to the BayArena to take on Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB Pokal semi-finals, desperate to break a four-game losing streak in H2Hs.

The hosts have maintained their strong start to the new calendar year with a 1-1 away draw with RB Leipzig at the weekend (W8, D1, L1), although it marked an end to their six-game winning run. Additionally, Peter Bosz’s men have won all five of their competitive home games since the turn of the year, finding the net in both halves in all but one of those successes. Bookies’ favorites to reach the semi-finals, ‘Die Werkself’ have won both of their only previous home H2Hs, with both of those triumphs coming via a multiple-goal margin. But, if they concede the opening goal, as they’ve done in four of their last 11 home outings, Leverkusen could find themselves in a bit of trouble – they returned just one point from those four matches.

Meanwhile, before being held to a 2-2 home stalemate to Wolfsburg last time out, the visitors had played out nine successive games without a draw (W4, L5). Curiously, five of nine results (win/loss) in that stretch have seen the winner coming in the second half after goalless halftime. But, ‘Die Eisernen’ have endured mixed fortunes in their last six road trips (W3, L3). Five of those fixtures have seen the winner on the day make the breakthrough, with three of them producing a single-goal margin. Union’s recent away action has often exploded into life after the break, as 85.71% (six) of their last seven goals scored on the road arrived in the second half.