Updated on October 2, 2020, 10:37 p.m.
1. FC Union Berlin gave the struggling 1. FSV Mainz 05 a 4-0 rub-down on Friday evening and celebrated their first victory in the new Bundesliga season.
Driven by the brilliantly applied Max Kruse 1. FC Union Berlin has the crisis of FSV Mainz 05 at the debut of Interim coach Jan-Moritz Lichte massively tightened. The Eiserne celebrated their first win of the season and their greatest success in the Bundesliga with a 4-0 (1-0) win on Friday evening. They also impressively underpinned the playful upward trend shown last.
Kruse (13th minute) in his first start for Union, Marcus Ingvartsen (49th), Marvin Friedrich (63.) and the recently substituted Joel Pohjanpalo (64th) scored the goals in front of about 4,500 enthusiastic spectators in the stadium at the Alte Försterei. Union has never managed a four-pack in the Bundesliga. The shockingly harmless Mainz suffered their third defeat in their third game and after the international break that is now on their way, they urgently need to start a new beginning.
Kruse headed for the opening goal
Union coach Urs Fischer had bluffed. There was no mention of Kruse in the starting XI. With the nomination, his opinion that he is fit enough is proven. “Now it is important to show from the start what we have signed him for,” said the Swiss about the ex-national player shortly before kick-off at DAZN. And Kruse showed it. The first Union attack worth seeing Robert Andrich and Sheraldo Becker he completed the lead with a header. With his iron goal premiere, the 32-year-old has now scored for six different Bundesliga clubs.
But Kruse showed even more. When Mainz pushed forward quickly, the center forward (20th) sprinted back into his own penalty area as if the protracted ankle injury had never existed. This collective consciousness arrives in Köpenick. After another Union counterattack (27th) via Becker, Kruse almost added up before the break. Also Nico Schlotterbeck (30.) had the chance to score a second goal.
Mainz gave up in the second half
And Mainz? The team had light after the quarrels and turbulence and the replacement of his former boss Achim Beierlorzer barely changed. For the one who migrated to VfL Wolfsburg Ridle Baku, the blocked Moussa Niakhaté and Barreiro Martins advanced Philipp Mwene, Alexander Hack and Pierre Kunde into the team. The unchanged offensive could not surprise Union’s solid defense. For Goalkeeper Andreas Luthe, who had been given preference over Liverpool loan from Loris Karius, it wasn’t even dangerous until half-time.
Lichte kept his players in the dressing room for a long time. The hoped-for effect quickly fizzled out. Ingvartsen could after flank of Christopher Trimmel Slide in quite freely to the second gate. Even Friedrich was not disturbed by his header hit. And a few seconds after Northern fire for the now exhausted Kruse had come onto the field, the Finn poked the ball into his first goal in the goal. Mainz had given up long before the double strike. (dpa / fra)
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