Defender double pack
©IMAGO
Crisis club Borussia Mönchengladbach suffered another setback in its first game with Union Berlin’s new sports director Rouven Schröder. The team from the Lower Rhine lost to Köpenicker 1:3 (1:2) and slipped to last place in the table for at least one night. Across all seasons, the Foals have not won in the league for 14 games – a negative club record.
In front of 22,012 fans in the sold-out An der Alten Försterei stadium, central defender Danilho Doekhi (3rd and 26th minutes) gave Berlin the lead with a brace. Former Hertha player Haris Tabakovic scored the next goal (33′). Rani Khedira (81st) secured Berlin’s victory in the final phase. Instead of the expected tough struggle, both teams had some good opportunities. The Unioners made better use of the guests’ mistakes.
The crisis at Gladbach continues even after Schröder’s arrival during the week. Borussia only got two of the 21 possible points from the last seven away games – and next weekend they are at home against Bayern. The Berliners moved up to seventh place in the table with ten points, at least temporarily.
Borussia had signed Schröder during the week as the successor to the resigned Roland Virkus. The new sports director, who turns 50 on Saturday, demonstratively expressed his trust in the previous interim coach Eugen Polanski. “We are very convinced of Eugen,” said Schröder before the game on “Sky”. “Of course we have to score points to go up. But to say now that he has to get seven points in three games, otherwise we won’t go any further, makes no sense at all.”
Union coach Steffen Baumgart had warned before the game: “We don’t always spark with enthusiasm when we have the ball.” To do this, the people of Köpenick remembered their tried and tested strengths. After a corner from captain Christopher Trimmel, Doekhi headed in to take the lead. Jens Castrop narrowly missed the direct response from the guests (4th).
Union remained dangerous with shots from Derrick Köhn (10th) and Tim Skarke (15th), who was in the starting line-up for the first time this season. The Iron team let the guests take control of the game and tried to achieve success through their fast attackers. Ilyas Ansah cleverly dribbled into the Foals’ penalty area and shot onto the inside post. Doekhi was the quickest to switch gears and score a double.
The foals only had to shake themselves briefly. Both teams did not have the expected game with few scoring chances. Yannik Engelhardt played a strong role in clearing Tabakovic. The 31-year-old easily scored his third goal in the last four games.
The initial phase after the break belonged to the Berliners, who pushed for the 3-1. However, they didn’t come very close to scoring on several corners. Tabakovic’s supposed equalizer didn’t count because it was offside (59′). Union’s Skarke finished too centrally (64′).
Polanski wanted to turn the tide with a quadruple substitution. Among others, the returnees Giovanni Reyna and Franck Honorat came into play. Tabakovic had the chance again, but his volley went just over the box (68′). After a poorly cleared free kick from ex-Union player Marvin Friedrich, Khedira made the decision with a well-considered shot.