Steffen Baumgart had a debut to forget. With the struggling 1. FC Union Berlin he lost 0:2 (0:1) at 1. FC Heidenheim, who celebrated their redeeming first league win since the end of September. FCH newcomer Frans Krätzig (17th) had a fantastic debut with his goal. Shortly before the end, Adrian Beck increased the score (83′).
Union, which played outnumbered for a long time due to an emergency brake after the red card against Tom Rothe (37th), has been waiting for success for ten competitive games. The lead over Heidenheim and relegation place 16 melted to four points.
Union starts the game well
At first, Steffen Baumgart had to like what he saw 388 days after his last appearance in the Bundesliga (with Cologne at Union). His defense, which was converted from a three-man to a four-man chain, was compact against the ball in a flat 4-4-2 and skillfully switched to attack.
After a first chance by Benedict Hollerbach (6th), FCH goalkeeper Kevin Müller just steered a shot from Jordan (8th) onto the crossbar. A corner was followed by the next opportunity from Robert Skov (16th), who was too hesitant to take his header.
Heidenheim scores out of nowhere, Rothe sees red
In return, Heidenheim’s lead fell out of the blue when Krätzig took advantage of the home team’s first shot on goal from the backcourt after a clever pass from Leonardo Scienza. A double of this attack almost made it 2-0, but Danilho Doekhi cleared the ball in front of Heidenheim’s second winter entry, Budu Sivsiwadze (21′).
Franz Krätzig, who was loaned out to VfB Stuttgart from FC Bayern in the first half of the season, scores his first Bundesliga goal in his first game for Heidenheim.
A little later the good Scienza had to leave the field injured, but the FCH remained the more active team. During a counterattack, Rothe came too late against Sirlord Conteh, who was substituted for Scienza, and was the last man to see red.
Uneventful second half
In the second half, Baumgart tried a few things with personnel and switched back to a three-man chain. But Heidenheim was closer to scoring the second goal than his team was to equalizing. Jan Schöppner (56th), for example, headed just wide of the goal. Benedikt Gimber was also substituted while still injured.
Before the score was 2-0, a shot from Zivzivadze, who made a decent debut as a nine-man, was blocked by goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow. Substitute Beck used the rebound.
Heidenheim in Bremen, Union against Augsburg
Heidenheim remains in the relegation place, but with its first win in ten games, it increased the gap to the direct relegation places to five points. In the English week, Frank Schmidt’s team has to play away in Bremen next Wednesday (January 15th, 8:30 p.m.). At the same time, Union Berlin is in demand against FC Augsburg.