Soccer Bundesliga: Union Berlin is pushing FC Bayern hard

Borussia’s wild away curse
Union moves the FC Bayern powerful on the Pelle

01/25/2023 10:29 p.m

1. FC Union Berlin ended the first half of the Bundesliga season in second place after a narrow win against Bremen as the first Bayern hunter. SC Freiburg and Eintracht Frankfurt share the points in the chasing duel. Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen continues to catch up.

SC Freiburg – Eintracht Frankfurt 1: 1 (0: 1)

Eintracht Frankfurt has lost its role as Bayern hunter number one three days before the top game in Munich. Coach Oliver Glasner’s team came to a 1-1 (1-0) finish in the chasing duel at SC Freiburg, who were tied on points, and are five points behind the league leaders. Freiburg showed itself to be much better than the bitter 6-0 defeat at VfL Wolfsburg. Randal Kolo Muani gave Frankfurt the lead (42′), who had to do without their sick goalkeeper Kevin Trapp for a short time. But national player Matthias Ginter (47th) equalized with a header in the Europa-Park stadium, which was sold out with 34,700 spectators.

SBU coach Oliver Glasner made three changes to his starting XI compared to the win against Schalke 04 (3-0). Diant Ramaj replaced Trapp, the injured Junior Dina Ebimbe replaced Christopher Lenz. In addition, the fit defender Tuta was allowed to play from the start. Eintracht initially left the design of the game to Freiburg and tried to use high pressure to get into offensive action. But the defensive of the Breisgau was stable. Despite more ball possession, Freiburg, who played a lot with long balls, rarely had to get in front of the Frankfurt goal. Lucas Höler missed the lead with a long-range shot with the first significant chance (20th).

As a result, Frankfurt seemed a little more alert and found it better in the duels. But the team of coach Christian Streich, who played his 340th Bundesliga game as Freiburg head coach and thus drew level with record coach Volker Finke, stayed on the trigger. It was almost half-time before the guests from Hesse scored their first goal: Kolo Muani finished on the edge of the penalty area and hammered the ball into the bottom right corner for a lucky lead. Immediately after the change of sides, the sports club hit back ice cold. After a cross from Christian Günter, Ginter headed the ball in unstoppably. Freiburg continued to push for the opening goal, but Michael Gregoritsch missed from close range (62nd). Eintracht was mainly waiting for a counterattack.

Werder Bremen 1-2 Union Berlin (1-1)

Jubilee victory and record points for Urs Fischer: The coach continues to march through the Bundesliga with Union Berlin and has finally plunged Werder Bremen into a crisis. The Bayern hunter number one won at the end of the first half of the season, not undeservedly, 2-1 (1-1) against the Hanseatic League, Janik Haberer (18th) and Kevin Behrens (46th) turned the game around with their goals and made Fischer’s 50th .Bundesliga victory in 119 games. For Bremen, who presented themselves better overall four days after the 1:7 debacle at 1. FC Köln, the interim lead by Amos Pieper (14th) was not enough.

Union, second in the table after the work win, now has 33 points on their account, more than ever before in the first half of the season, and only three fewer than record champions Bayern Munich. For Werder it was the fourth bankruptcy in a row, the promoted team is stuck in no man’s land in the table. “We overlook Bremen’s last game, a lot just went wrong there,” Fischer said before the game. The Swiss inoculated his team not to underestimate the Hanseatic League despite their desolate performance in Cologne and immediately put his trust in new signing Josip Juranovic three days after his commitment.

And Werder should agree with Fischer right from the start. After a free kick by Marvin Ducksch, Pieper headed in from close range. But the lead didn’t give the Hanseatic League security for long, and Pieper just blundered with a very bad back pass shortly afterwards – Haberer took advantage of the misfortune coldly.

But overall, Werner’s team, who only changed his starting eleven in two positions compared to the Cologne debacle, showed a different face. Of course not everything worked again, but Union seemed quite impressed. When Sheraldo Becker scored a dream goal shortly before the break, the home side were “lucky” after the goal was withdrawn due to a handball after video evidence. Werder was always dangerous, but Union took advantage of mistakes ice cold. 51 seconds after the restart, Behrens was simply much more alert than the entire Bremen defense at a corner. Niclas Füllkrug and Co. didn’t give up, Werder tried everything – and so it remained exciting until the end.

Bayer Leverkusen – VfL Bochum 2: 0 (1: 0)

Bayer Leverkusen took the next step towards a place in the European Cup when Florian Wirtz returned to the starting XI. Coach Xabi Alonso’s team defeated VfL Bochum 2-0 (1-0) and celebrated their fifth win in a row. As a result, the Werkself climb past Borussia Mönchengladbach to eighth place. Edmond Tapsoba (8th) gave Leverkusen the lead with a penalty kick after video evidence. Adam Hlozek (53rd) followed up after some good preliminary work from Wirtz. For Bochum, which slipped to relegation place 16, a winning streak of three games ended.

After tearing his cruciate ligament on Wednesday evening, Wirtz started a competitive game for Leverkusen for the first time in 318 days. The 19-year-old was last brought on in the 74th minute in Mönchengladbach on Sunday. “We need him,” said Bayer coach Xabi Alonso after the game. Captain and goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky agreed with his coach: “He’s a winter signing and brings us to another dimension.”

Bochum came into play better in the early minutes in front of 27,820 spectators in the BayArena. Philipp Hofmann fired the first shot next to the goal after ten seconds. Moussa Diaby, who got caught on Keven Schlotterbeck’s foot after a solo in the penalty area and fell to the ground, had the first scene for Leverkusen (5′). Referee Timo Gerach’s whistle was initially silent, Adam Hlozek’s shot from the margin failed because of Bochum’s keeper Manuel Riemann. At first the game went on. Then Gerach looked at the scene again and decided on a penalty kick. Tapsoba sank ice cold and ended Leverkusen’s bad luck with penalties: Most recently, the Rhinelanders had awarded six penalties in a row in all competitions.

Takuma Asano missed the direct answer on the other end, Piero Hincapie saved on the line. Bayer came into play a little better as a result. A goal by Diaby was disallowed due to a clear offside position. Comebacker Wirtz also showed up after 20 minutes with a harmless shot from a distance. After that, the game initially slacked off at temperatures around the freezing point. After the break, Riemann had to parry Wirtz in the follow-up (47′). A few minutes later, the international prepared the goal of the incoming Hlozek with a nice, tight pass – it was the 500th goal of the first half of the Bundesliga season. Wirtz’ comeback ended with standing ovations and chants in the 72nd minute.

FC Augsburg – Borussia Monchengladbach 1:0 (0:0)

Borussia Mönchengladbach is finally in danger of losing touch with the international places. At the end of the first half of the season, coach Daniel Farke’s team deservedly lost 0-1 (0-0) after a poor performance at FC Augsburg, who were threatened with relegation, made the wrong start to the new year with their second defeat and continued to stagger towards mid-table. Under-21 European champion Mergim Berisha (82′) scored the hosts’ long-awaited liberation. Coach Enrico Maassen’s team broke their streak of eight games without a win with another courageous performance and got the breath they urgently needed in the relegation battle before the start of the second half of the season.

National player Jonas Hofmann, who was not available due to illness, was briefly absent from Gladbach. Nathan Ngoumou moved to the right wing position, Hofmann’s place in the starting lineup was taken by Marcus Thuram, who has recovered from knee problems. However, the “best striker in the Bundesliga”, according to Farke, didn’t get too many chances to excel. While Borussia mostly looked in vain for gaps in the good Augsburg defence, FCA came dangerously in front of the Gladbach goal early on, including through Arne Maier (6th). After a strong counterattack by Berisha (9th), who returned after serving a yellow card suspension, Borussia goalkeeper Jonas Omlin had to intervene for the first time.

Meanwhile, his opponent Rafal Gikiewicz saw how his team remained the much more dangerous side in a rather uneventful game until the break. The referee Daniel Schlager took back the supposed opening goal by winter newcomer Dion Beljo (36th) due to an offside position – a millimeter decision. Augsburg’s dominance continued in the second half, and unlike in the first half, Gladbach was barely able to break free. Among other things, Ermedin Demirovic (52nd) forced the Swiss Omlin to make a brilliant save, captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw (63rd) hit the post with a powerful header – then Berisha hit. In the closing stages, Gladbach had no answer to the deficit and were therefore unable to win their eighth away game of the season.