FC St. Pauli also lost its eighth Bundesliga game in a row. The Kiezkickers would have deserved at least a point against Union Berlin, but in the end they came up short again. At the end of the 11th matchday, the Berlin team won 1-0 (1-0) in Hamburg.
Rani Khedira (44th minute) scored the golden goal of the day, which gave the Iron a flattering success and eighth place in the table. St. Pauli is in 17th place with just seven points.
Extremely tough first half
Already in the opening quarter of an hour it was clear that on this cold Hamburg evening two teams were facing each other who had rarely attracted attention this year due to their fine play and offensive spectacle. The hosts had previously failed to score a Bundesliga goal 14 times in 2025, and Union was only just behind in this statistic (13). For a long time, basically nothing happened at all. In the 17th minute, in the first somewhat more exciting scene, Kiez keeper Nikola Vasilj quickly punched a cross out of the danger zone, which the waiting Andrej Ilic behind him might have used to make it 0-1.
After almost half an hour there was something of a goal threat on the other side: After a courageous attack from the left, St. Pauli’s Andreas Hountondji found the head of Mathias Pereira Lage with his cross, but he placed the ball next to the near post from a technically demanding position. The first half was characterized by many high and mostly easy-to-clear balls, in which both teams largely had everything under control defensively.
Union’s Khedira takes the lead in her second attempt
In the 38th minute, chance gave the Berliners the best opportunity of the game to date: the ball flipped from Leopold Querfeld’s shin in the penalty area to Ilic, whose false finish from half-right was too out of place to overcome the quickly diving Vasilj. Shortly afterwards, a similar scene occurred, but with a different outcome: After a throw-in from the right, the hosts were unable to clear the ball properly. Khedira first shot at his teammate Ilic from the backcourt, got the ball right back at his feet and then finished with a low shot to make it 0-1 (44th). The lead was okay at this point because Union had been the more determined of two harmless teams.
Union Berlin’s players celebrate Rani Khedira’s (2nd from right) opening goal in the game against St. Pauli
St. Pauli dominated in the second half – but again without success
The hosts had to step up their game in the second half and, above all, use their already few offensive attempts more cleanly in order to avert the threat of another defeat. And Alexander Blessin’s team actually managed a period of real pressure, thanks in particular to committed counter-pressing. However, the inaccuracies in Hamburg’s flat passing game remained a problem, so that despite the significantly improved intensity, there was hardly even a shot at first.
After an hour, Joel Chima Fujita finally tested the attention of guest keeper Frederik Rönnow with a central long-range shot, but despite being unoccupied he was not yet frozen to the ground and was in his post. After a cross from the right, Rönnow had to attack again, but Hauke Wahl’s header also flew exactly in his direction (62nd). Union hardly came up with any relief attacks in this phase and usually gave away the play equipment far too quickly. Despite the lack of top-class players, it actually smelled like a long overdue equalizer.
Pereira Lage hits the post
Given his team’s visible problems, Steffen Baumgart made three substitutions in the 73rd minute, but his blue-clad players continued to falter and were able to thank Rönnow, who cleverly shortened the angle against Pereira Lage, so that his shot in the 75th minute only hit the post. St. Pauli tried hard, but the Kiezkickers lacked the final consistency, the necessary luck and, in the final phase, visibly enough strength to really successfully overcome the robust Union defense bar. Daniel Sinani almost converted a corner, but substitute Janik Haberer saved on the line (85th) and thus a flattering away win.
St. Pauli at Bayern, Union against Heidenheim
Very contrasting tasks await the teams in the coming week. St. Pauli will be visiting league leaders Bayern Munich on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m.). At the same time, Union welcomes bottom team 1. FC Heidenheim.