Weakest team in top leagues
The most difficult sporting phase in more than five years under Urs Fischer is extremely unfavorable for 1.FC Union Berlin. Actually, one would have liked to look forward to the historic first home game in the Champions League – instead, after a dismal September with five defeats, the Köpenick team fell into a kind of fatalism. “Now everything is coming together,” said sports director Oliver Ruhnert the day after the 0-1 defeat at 1. FC Heidenheim. Fischer reacted similarly immediately after the frustrating defeat at the newly promoted team. “We don’t reward ourselves. Then the situation looks as it is,” said the Swiss.
And the situation is anything but pleasant. Before the game against Sporting Braga, which Union will play in Hertha’s Olympic Stadium on Tuesday (6.45 p.m./DAZN), the pressure to succeed is growing more and more. After years of pure happiness, the term “sports crisis” is making the rounds at Union for the first time in a long time. “Every defeat hurts. It’s important to get a sense of success again. “It is the accusation that we have to put up with,” complained Fischer.
Since the club brought in top-class professionals such as national player Robin Gosens (29), European champion Leonardo Bonucci (36) and striker Kevin Volland (31) in the summer, there have been increasing frustrations at Union. The angry Gosens walked through the narrow catacombs of the Heidenheim stadium on Saturday, swearing. Bonucci, who was substituted, also didn’t have his best day. Volland was still under suspension. The impressive new additions, which football Germany was still amazed at in the summer, have not yet brought a real Champions League feeling.
Ruhnert sees the current failures of long-standing top performers as a reason for the sadness. “A change requires reliable actors. We don’t have a very important central player in Rani Khedira. We have Robin Knoche, who is out. “The whole upheaval has just been passed on to the players who have just joined,” Ruhnert told “Bild” on Sunday, referring to the new additions around Bonucci and Gosens. Knoche is not expected to return against Braga either. The luck of the game is no longer on the side of the “Irons” at the moment: “Balls that would otherwise go in go to the inside post. Then the opponent scores Sunday goals and we don’t make the most of our opportunities.”
With Volland and Gosens: The most expensive additions from Union Berlin
Union Berlin is the weakest team in Europe’s top 5 leagues
Union currently not only has the longest winless streak in the Fischer era. After losing 1-0 thanks to a dream free-kick goal from Jan-Niklas Beste (24), the club also fell behind newly promoted Heidenheim. “Then you’re standing there again and have to explain yourself,” said Fischer with a fair amount of perplexity. No other team from the European top 5 leagues has recently lost five competitive games in a row.
Union is also under pressure against Braga in the “premier class” after the brave 0-1 defeat at Real Madrid at the start. But Fischer doesn’t have much time to prepare. “What can you do? “They won’t train much,” said the Swiss, referring to the regular line-up, which will be called upon again a good 72 hours after Heidenheim. “That’s why we won’t have a unit in which we go towards the goal. Above all, it is important to show the positive actions of today.”
Captain Christopher Trimmel (36) seemed a bit disillusioned when he talked about the current list of deficiencies. “It doesn’t quite fit at the back and front,” said the 36-year-old. The many mistakes, the poor utilization of opportunities, the next upheaval and the lack of self-confidence, all lead to the current low. Trimmel sees it as positive that the Champions League will continue on Tuesday. “That’s the nice thing about the double burden: you don’t have a lot of time to think about it. Not everything was bad.”
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