From BZ/dpa
Lothar Matthäus first pulled out his mobile phone. Even before his match analysis as an RTL expert, the German record national player wanted to quickly capture this scene as a video. 2,000 fans of 1. FC Union Berlin loudly celebrated their team in Anderlecht’s Lotto Park – after the Bundesliga club’s worst international defeat in its history.
The self-confessed Union admirer Matthäus was not the only one who developed a feeling that, despite a used football In the evening not everything could have been bad for the Berliners.
“For me personally, even if it’s just after such a bitter end, I’m still proud that we’ve come this far. We have already enjoyed this trip,” said Union captain Christopher Trimmel in the stadium catacombs. The fans were still chanting Urs Fischer from the arena.
The discrepancy between pride and disappointment was one thing. The other reality is that the Berliners have not won five games in a row or, alternatively, only one game from the past eight appearances.
In fourth place in the Bundesliga you are still above average for your own increased demands. The Champions League could become the big stage for the return to Europe in September. But this downward trend cannot be ignored. When analyzing the error, coach Urs Fischer spoke plainly for his circumstances. The coach complained about individual failures in a continuous loop.
Teddy Teuma scores 1-0 for the home team against Union Photo: AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert
“If you make such mistakes, and not just since today, you don’t have to be surprised,” Fischer quarreled. Union must find itself again, demanded the 57-year-old. “At the end of the day, we have to function as a team. That got us to where we are,” said Fischer. But are strength and mental freshness enough at the moment? The doubts grow.
On Sunday (3.30 p.m. / DAZN) pursuer Eintracht Frankfurt – another bitter European Cup loser this week – comes to the stadium at the Alte Försterei. Trimmel is certain that the old mechanisms will then be working again.
Union’s Sven Michel against Ismael Kandouss Photo: AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert
“The coach will find the right words, the president will find the right words, I’m in good spirits. Knowing the team, they will sit together for a bit because we have a good mentality. Don’t badmouth everything, in the end we agree that it was outstanding,” was the overall conclusion of the Union captain’s European Cup season after the bitter Belgian end.