Union Berlin celebrated their second Europa League win in a row against Malmö. With a 1-0 win in the stadium at the Alte Försterei, the Köpenickers also secured a European winter break.
Union Berlin also won the second leg in the Europa League against Malmö FF. A week after the victory in Sweden, the Köpenickers secured a narrow 1-0 win (0-0) on Thursday evening (10/13/22).
So it is already clear that Union Berlin will at least overwinter in the Conference League. The Berliners, for whom Robin Knoche scored the goal of the evening on Thursday, have also significantly increased their chances of progressing in the Europa League with their win.
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Low-opportunity initial phase
Compared to the narrow 1-0 win in Stuttgart last weekend, Urs Fischer made three changes to his starting line-up against Malmö. Janik Haberer replaced the red-banned Andras Schäfer in the first eleven, Christopher Trimmel and Diogo Leite started instead of Niko Gießelmann and Danilho Doekhi.
The first offensive action, on the other hand, was initiated by a Unioner, who is part of Fischer’s starting lineup these days: Sheraldo Becker crossed to the second post after a good run, where Haberer, who had run in, came too late with his tackle towards the ball. As a result, an initial phase developed with slight advantages for Union, but also without dangerous goal area scenes.
A busy Sheraldo Becker
While the fans in the stands – peaceful this time – created a great atmosphere in the stadium at the Alte Försterei, Union needed a good quarter of an hour to pick up speed. The hosts then became busier, especially on the wings, and there they kept looking for Becker again and again. In the 19th minute it was he who pulled in from the right wing and flicked the ball onto the far post. The ball, however, was no problem for Malmö goalkeeper Ismael Diawara.
While Malmö mostly limited themselves to defending in the following minutes and only rarely advanced to the Berlin penalty area, Union was now trying to grab the game a little more. That was only partially successful: Christopher Trimmel (25th minute) and Jordan (31st) had chances, but overall Union played offensively neither particularly creatively nor consistently enough. Above all, the penultimate pass was wrong too often. The hosts always played well into the opposing half, but hardly ever really dangerously in front of the goal. Shortly before the break, Haraguchi passed the ball back to Becker, but he missed it from the inside right behind the edge of the penalty area. So it went into the break with a 0-0 draw.
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Game picks up speed
The game quickly became more intense as the second half began. Union invested more offensively, played more purposefully and promptly got the first chance. After a strong cross from Julian Ryerson, Becker extended to Haraguchi, who, however, did not finish quickly enough for the Malmö defense to clear. However, the game not only became faster, but also more choppy. Around the 60th minute, Robin Knoche (for complaining) and Rani Khedira (for holding on) received a yellow card.
Knoche becomes the man of the evening
Perhaps the best two Union chances followed. After the guests failed to clear the ball, the ball landed just outside the penalty area at Rani Khedira’s feet. However, his deflected shot hit the left post. Shortly thereafter, after good preliminary work from Becker and Trimmel, Jordan was also unable to put the ball in the goal. In the 70th minute, referee Aleksandar Stavrev pointed to Malmö’s penalty spot after first Unions Haberer and then substitute Morten Thorsby went down in the away penalty area. However, Stavrev looked at the scene again, did not rate the contact with Haberer as a foul and instead showed Thorsby the yellow card for an offensive foul.
In the 87th minute, Stavrev pointed to the point again, this time the whistle held. Malmö’s Lomotey had pulled Kevin Behrens, who was also a substitute, to the ground and so Knoche grabbed the ball for the penalty kick. The defender then confidently converted the bottom left, making it 1-0 and giving Union Berlin their first Europa League home win in the club’s history.
The brief analysis
Union struggled for a long time against by far the worst opponent in Group D. Against the very defensively oriented Swedes, the hosts lacked accuracy around the opposing penalty area for long stretches of the game. Striking here: Almost always, when the Berliners appeared near the Malmö goal with a good view, this was preceded by an action on one of the two outer lanes. Union forced the fast switching game over the wings, as in the past few weeks, whenever possible.
The type of victory was at least not atypical for the team coached by Urs Fischer. Although she didn’t play well, she was there in the second half when it mattered. This was represented by Robin Knoche’s penalty kick, which was as safe as it was uncompromising. In addition, Union’s defense did not allow the Malmö guests to develop offensively at all. So the victory in Berlin wasn’t particularly impressive, but it was very well deserved.
The game in the live ticker
Broadcast: rbb24, October 13, 2022, 6 p.m
