They were one man more for an hour, took the lead and still didn’t win at Sporting Braga on Wednesday, 1-1 (1-0). It is therefore clear: Union Berlin will win the group phase Champions League probably finish last.
It was a kind of return to the roots for the “Iron” – at least in terms of playing style. From the first minute, Union largely left the ball to their opponents and focused on defending their own goal.
The game seemed correspondingly one-sided. Because Berlin defended it with the passion that it did team had made it so successful in recent years, very little dangerous happened.
Braga only managed two chances despite their superiority. Jerome Roussillon managed to block a shot from Simon Banza from five meters at the last moment (16th), and a header from Alvarao Djalo narrowly missed the Union goal (28th).
Red for Niakaté, goal from Gosens – Union on the right track
Shortly afterwards there was an initial spark for Berlin. Sikou Niakaté was shown the red card (31st) after a hard foul on Kevin Behrens – and the resulting majority helped the Bundesliga 17th team. visible. Kevin Volland had the first opportunity a little later, but headed over the goal (37th), but the second attempt resulted in the first goal under new coach Nenad Bjelica. Roussillon fed Robin Gosens, who made it 1-0 with his strong left foot (42′).
The fact that we went into the half-time break with this result was primarily the result of Berlin once again being able to show the necessary passion on defense. The best proof of this came in the first minute of added time. When the hosts had a quadruple chance, goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow first saved twice, then the Union defense blocked two more Braga shot attempts just in front of the line.
Djalo throws Union completely off track
But shortly after the start of the second half, Braga broke Berlin’s spell. Djalo was sent with a through pass and finished quite centrally, but Rönnow speculated with an attempt into the far corner and was no longer able to deflect the ball decisively (51′). And as a result, the Portuguese were clearly the better team despite being outnumbered, but Ricardo Horta missed the host’s next great chance and shot just wide of the goal (61′).
Union had noticed the uncertainty of the past few weeks. The Berliners hadn’t won a competitive game for over three months and there was less and less evidence in Braga that this misery would end. At first the Bjelicateam They took the lead quite carelessly and then couldn’t find their way back into the game. After a long time, Union had the first half “Union-Like” successfully contested.
Braga still has a last chance to advance
What came from the Berliners in the second half, however, was very disappointing. Although Union absolutely had to win in order to have a chance of staying in the European Cup over the winter, they did not create any opportunities to take the lead again. Braga continued to storm to make it 2-1 and had many opportunities, but repeatedly failed to score (a total of 19 shots on goal: 6). For Berlin, David Fofana missed the only chance in the second half with his header (84′).
And so it remained 1-1, which means that Braga can still reach the round of 16 in the group final at SSC Napoli with a win with a two-goal difference. Meanwhile, Union will win the group stage at his Champions League-Premiere expected to finish last.
In the final group game against record winners Real Madrid, the Berliners would need a win and would also have to hope that Braga doesn’t score points at SSC Napoli. In all other cases, the Madrid game is the last of the European Cup season for Union.