Union Berlin and Europe – something is slowly coming out of it. Thanks to his unerring storm in the second row, Union in the Conference League, as demanded by coach Urs Fischer, “also made it into the table with points”. Andreas Voglsammer (33rd minute), Kevin Behrens (48th) and Taiwo Awoniyi (77th), who was used as a joker this time, scored the goals in the 3-0 (1-0) game against Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa on Thursday evening to the first win in the group stage.
After the first guest appearance of an Israeli team in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, the next international matriculation test for the Berliners is on October 21 with the difficult away game against the traditional Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam. Then an important step can be made in Group E towards reaching the knockout round in the new European Cup.
Union Berlin coach Urs Fischer surprised everyone with his intense rotation. No Max Kruse and initially no Awoniyi in the storm, no Andreas Luthe in goal. The fixed points of the iron sat on the bench to protect them. Replacement final man Frederik Rönnow could hardly have chosen a more relaxing evening for his debut. The game of switching played by the guests from Haifa, which Fischer previously described as particularly dangerous, practically did not take place. The young Dane could hardly distinguish himself.
First approaches
Union took with Behrens, Voglsammer and Sheraldo Becker as a newly formed storm series for its part a long time to get going. The mechanisms that were important for the intensive game of Union were obviously missing. The usual euphoric chants of the 23,342 spectators in the red-lit historical circle were almost half an hour more entertaining than the game.
Then Kevin Möhwald (29th) tried it at his premiere in the European Cup from a distance – without success. A little later, Behrens (30) was surprised to be carelessly given the ball in the center by the Israelis and involuntarily quickly gave it back.
The 1-0 winning goal scorer from the Bielefeld game on Saturday demonstrated a little later how it can be done better. He vigorously penetrated the penalty area. Voglsammer only had to push in for his second European Cup goal. Behrens scored his own second international goal shortly after the break. He headed a massive 2-0.
In contrast to the 1: 3 at Slavia Prague, when Behrens had also scored, the Berliners did not allow themselves to be taken by surprise this time due to a lack of international maturity. Rönnow had to grab a few more times. However, the maiden win was no longer in danger, especially since Awoniyi also demonstrated his accuracy once again after being substituted on.
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