In a Bundesliga game of manageable quality, it looked like a draw until the final phase, but then Oliver Burke and Josip Juranovic scored and gave Marie-Louise Eta a historic success: She became the first female coach to celebrate a victory in the men’s Bundesliga.
Andrej Ilic gave the guests the lead on Sunday evening (38th minute), former Berliner Sheraldo Becker equalized for Mainz (48th minute), before Burke and Joranovic decided the game in the guests’ favor in the final phase (88th and 90th + 1). Mainz remains in tenth place due to the defeat, while the Iron Men climb to twelfth place. “It was a very good performance today. We said we wanted to do things better bit by bit, week by week, and develop ourselves further and I think the boys have already implemented that very well today.”Eta analyzed matter-of-factly after celebrating the victory with the away fans, at least in the background of her team.
Union fans cause disruption with tennis balls – protest against kick-off times
Robin Zentner had not been between the Mainz posts since matchday 11 due to an injury, and the keeper has only experienced the upswing under Urs Fischer from the sidelines or the stands. He celebrated his comeback against Union Berlin, Daniel Batz only sat on the bench. And Zentner showed early on that he hasn’t forgotten any of his skills: in the 9th minute he parried a header from Andrej Ilic with a strong reflex and was celebrated by his teammates. In the following minutes, Zentner was again and again the focus of Union’s many crosses, and his front men didn’t really take off offensively at first.
Union Berlin fans are protesting against the scheduling of Bundesliga games
After 16 minutes, the game paused because tennis balls flew from the Union fan block onto the lawn. According to the fan banners, it is a protest against the many late Sundays and the resulting difficult journeys for Union supporters. Later, a volleyball landed on the field marked “per 3:30 p.m.” The Mainz supporters did not actively join in the action, so all eyes were on the visitors’ block. In the 23rd minute, referee Florian Exner whistled to restart the game; apparently the fans had run out of throwing material.
Union crosses a lot and rewards themselves for it
The continuation of the game didn’t change the number of actions worth seeing, because it was Sunday football to break the habit, which both teams offered in this phase. Lots of high balls with no return, lots of duels, one or two standard situations – that’s all there was to it. Union was the more active team overall and was rewarded for the numerous crosses into the Mainz penalty area in the 38th minute: After a short corner, Aljoscha Kemlein crossed from the half field and found the incoming Ilic, who headed unguarded from close range past the centner sailing past.
It took until stoppage time in the first half before Union’s substitute keeper Carl Klaus had to parry a shot at his goal for the first time. He punched a Nadiem Amiri free kick, which was probably intended as a cross, out of the danger zone without any problems (45th + 1). In the ninth minute of injury time, it was Mainz’s best, Kaishu Sano, who made an energetic push into the penalty area and was denied by Klaus from what ended up being a difficult angle. Livan Burcu suffered the same fate on the other side, who also shot from a tight angle in the tenth minute of injury time, but Zentner’s quickly flicking out hand was the end of the game.
Mainz comes out of the break strong, Becker scores against the former club
Whatever Mainz coach Urs Fischer gave his team against his former club during the break: it had an effect. Less than 120 seconds after the restart, Paul Nebel found Sheraldo Becker passing through the far post with a cross from the right. Becker, also a former Union player, refrained from celebrating – but he still scored the goal (48th). The Mainz team was hardly recognizable in other ways either: Present in the duels and eager to play, the Rheinhessen were now causing problems for the guests: Klaus defused a dangerous header from Kacper Potulski (51′), shortly afterwards Phillip Tietz scored an artistic goal to make it 2-1 – but this candidate for goal of the month was conceded because of an off-field position.
Eta makes three changes – and Union gets a second wind
Berlin’s coach Eta saw her team’s skins floating away and made three changes: Derrick Köhn, Andras Schäfer and Woo-Yeong Jeong came on for Burcu, Tom Rothe and Ilyas Ansah. This had an effect and meant that Mainz’s pressure phase came to an end and the game became more open again. There were no further chances to score until the final phase, but in the 83rd minute Ilic suddenly had a lot of space on a counterattack against the advanced hosts: Stefan Posch got in the way with his foot, so that Ilic’s shot didn’t go into the goal, but hit the crossbar.
Union Berlin coach Marie-Louise Eta celebrates her first win in the Bundesliga
Shortly afterwards, Burke turned around his opponent in the penalty area and made it 1-2 with a wonderful shot (88′). Mainz now threw everything forward, but Burke’s speed brought the decision: the Scot outran all opponents, cleverly crossed for Juranovic, who was running along, and he eliminated all doubts about a three-pointer in a midfield duel that was rather meaningless in terms of sport, but which will nevertheless go down in the history books.
Mainz in Heidenheim, Union against Augsburg
Mainz is a guest at 1. FC Heidenheim on the last matchday. Union welcomes FC Augsburg (both Saturday afternoon, 3:30 p.m.).
