The international street sweeper: the myth of Real Madrid weighs tons on Union Berlin

The rise of Union Berlin is rapid. The club from Berlin-Köpenick is writing one of the great stories of the Bundesliga. But on the eve of their biggest game to date, the “iron” get off track on their way from suburban club to international street sweeper.

Before kick-off there was only one topic. Who comes to the game at Real Madrid and how? A little later there were angry people in the football stadium. “On your face, on your face”, it sounded on Sunday from thousands of throats in the old forester’s office in Berlin-Köpenick. The spectators were beside themselves. After a foul by Kevin Volland on the Leipzig defender Mohamed Simakan, referee Daniel Schlager drew the red card against the former national player in the middle of a veritable pack formation. He knew the punishment was justified. The fans didn’t care. Any decision against your own team is always wrong. The game in the stadium is not very rational. Especially in the old forester’s house.

64 minutes were played in the Alte Försterei, the opponent from Leipzig was 1-0 in the lead. In the following three minutes, the angry people in the football stadium escalated. Anger was directed at anything and anyone not wearing home team colors. Especially against Simakan, of course, who continued for the time being. Deafening whistles, a hostile mood. Nothing could stop the angry people. Then Leipzig coach Marco Rose put the angry people on mute. A raging hurricane became an embarrassed silence, the certainty that it’s over now. “That was a small, positive side effect for us: we were able to calm down the stadium a bit,” said Rose casually at the press conference after the game.

It was probably more than just a small side effect, Rose finally defeated Union Berlin with this trick. His team had ended the remarkable home series of Köpenicker. They had been unbeaten in 24 Bundesliga games since a 3-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in February 2022. Coach at that time, of course, Rose, who nevertheless had to leave the Westfalenstadion at the end of the season and soon took over the coaching post from the unfortunate Domenico Tedesco in his hometown.

A duel with folding knives

The winners from Leipzig spoke afterwards of a “mature”, of a “manly” appearance of the team, which was reassembled in the summer after millions of dollars left. Goal scorer Xavi Simons, a 20-year-old Dutchman just out of puberty, shrugged his admiration at the atmosphere at the Alte Försterei. The people of Leipzig were what Union coach Urs Fischer had asked of his own team – they were disgusting, they fought with “jack knives” like the “Southgerman newspaper” and was certainly not wrong. Only then did they shave Union with two wonderful goals from Benjamin Sesko. When the stadium was calm, when Union was a normal Bundesliga team outnumbered, a class difference was revealed. That can happen. And but it came as a surprise, as the hosts had rushed through the first few days of the game.

Over the past decade, the game between the two East German clubs has always been a reality check for the clubs, who are deeply opposed to each other. The duels outline the unchecked rise of these two opposite protagonists to heavyweights in German football. They are united by their location in the former east of Germany. While the Berliners draw their strength from themselves, the people of Leipzig get their energy from Fuschl am See, a municipality in Salzburg’s Flachgau region.

In Leipzig, say the Berliners, football is dying and that’s why you have to keep quiet. They’ve been doing it every game since. They remain quiet for the first 15 minutes and then erupt into noise. Sometimes, like in the first game in the Bundesliga in August 2019, they concede a goal in the breakout, sometimes, like in February 2020 in the away game, they have to cheer in the silence. Then they met. And sometimes nothing happens. But the thunderous silence is non-negotiable, even if it happened in late summer 2023 under completely different conditions.

Union Berlin leaves the Alte Försterei

The newcomers Lenoardo Bonucci, Robin Gosens and Kevin Volland are examples of the change. Sports director Oliver Ruhnert is now reaching into other shelves. The only thing that remains constant is the high staff turnover, which has given birth to countless football gods. Football God, that’s what the players are called who have ever worn the Union jersey. Union Berlin has long established itself in the Bundesliga. High risk off the pitch and, under the direction of coach Fischer, clearly passionate football on the pitch. It’s a version of football where everything has to be coordinated. Where every moment of defense must be perfect and where the laws of the game are being overridden on offense with an alarming regularity. In Köpenick they react to the opponents’ mistakes, they rely on the force of their strikers and recently solve the problems of a football game also playfully. The next step.

It’s a transformation process that doesn’t just manifest itself on the pitch. For the Champions League, the club will move from the old Försterei, the Trutzburg, where spectators can scare their opponents, to the inhospitable but much larger Olympic Stadium in Berlin’s Westend. Inevitably, football will change, the atmosphere will change. Magical European nights will feel different, bring a different kind of support and propel Union into the international limelight. No one can prepare for the turbulence there. Either you stay in orbit or you fall into oblivion. Because the growth was too fast, too unhealthy. Everything is still in the future. Everything is still just a promise – and a threat.

What if Volland continues to be confused, if midfielder Aissa Laidouni is inconsistent, defender Diogo Leite remains unfocused and striker Kevin Behrens wakes up from his dream of scoring? What if the bad luck with injuries, which is currently dooming a midfield row and striker Sheraldo Becker to watch, stays true to the Köpenickers? What if Bonucci’s name is not only euphonious, but also one from the past? What if, in addition to the two penalties already conceded and two sending-offs, there are further indisciplines? So what if the hard-earned luck leaves the club? Questions that come to mind because every rapid ascent comes to an end. Because every heroic story is eventually told. But there is still time until then.

Why Union Berlin is an international blockbuster

“Real Madrid. I watched the draw and thought it was great when the first group opponent came. That’s something special, which you more than deserve. You can look forward to it,” said Leipzig coach Rose after the game. Real Madrid, the biggest name in world football, is Union Berlin’s first opponent in the Champions League. The high point of this surreal flight so far. And a little later Fischer confessed his powerlessness. He had to get the press under control, he said: “But that’s not possible.” He doesn’t have the feeling that it has influenced the team and professionals have to “endure it” anyway. But the myth of Real Madrid hung over the stadium, weighing tons. The lot had once again drawn international attention to this tranquil place in the deep east of the capital.

On Sunday, the last home game before the trip to the Bernabeu, the international press was there again. Among them is Seb Stafford-Bloor, who has been eyeing the Bundesliga for The Athletic for some time. “Everything I found on my first visit to the Alte Försterei reminded me of English football before the big sale,” says Stafford-Bloor, who, after his first visit in September 2022, has extensively researched the history of the club: “They tell such a wonderful story. One that is rarely told in English football.”

A look at the list of shirt sponsors is worthwhile. When Union won against Leipzig in the second division in 2014, it was the first RB defeat in the professional system, carried the “iron” kfzteile24 on their chests, which first became Layenberger, then Aroundtown and later wefox. Larger and larger companies wanted to see their name on the chests of Berliners. This summer, the streaming service Paramount+ got involved. Blockbuster Entertainment from New York City. In keeping with this, the legendary, but also very old Bonucci is now under contract in Köpenick. The story of Union will be told again in the coming weeks. This time worldwide. Success in the Bundesliga is one thing, a Champions League appearance is quite another. It’s the premier class.

The angry people in the stadium had become disappointed, defiant and proud people after the final whistle this Sunday. They sang as a promise long into this last day. If they still sing, if the international circus moves on, if Union Berlin remains Union Berlin, then they have won their biggest fight.