Without opposing influence, Max Kruse from Union Berlin sustained a muscle injury in injury time in the duel against Hertha BSC. “The examinations on Saturday in the Berlin Charité showed a muscle injury to the right rear thigh,” explained Union: “Kruse is therefore not available to coach Urs Fischer until further notice.”
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So it was a derby to forget for the striker. After the early red card against Robert Andrich in the 20th minute, Kruse was hanging in the air, could hardly set any accents at 1: 3 (1: 0) and had to plow a lot in the minority. A shot on goal did not succeed the number ten until the injury (the game for reading in TICKER).
Union lands coup with Kruse transfer
Union is now worried. “He’s the liaison player we’ve been missing. The one who is always there for the creative and the extraordinary,” said coach Urs Fischer after the diagnosis.
Is there a crash landing for the club without its star after the soaring flight?
In the coming weeks it will at least be against Bayern, Stuttgart and Dortmund.
Without a doubt, Kruse has been the outstanding figure at Union this season. Thanks to him, despite the defeat in the prestige duel, the team is still number one in the capital (The Bundesliga table).
Union has landed a coup with the engagement of the attacker.
Only Lewandowski and Haaland are more dangerous
There are a total of eleven goal participations for Kruse in the league (six hits and five assists). Only the superstars Robert Lewandowski (17) and Erling Haaland (12) were in the ranking before the matchday in front of the 32-year-old.
Kruse was in top form and has already set two records this season. He scored four games in a row – a Köpenicker never managed that in the Bundesliga. The striker also converted his 16th penalty in a row against Bielefeld, setting Hans-Joachim Abel’s record.
The calls for the star to return to the national team became louder again. SPORT1 columnist Tobias Holtkamp is also calling for a comeback.
During the week, Kruse’s coach Fischer said: “If that were the case, I would be happy.”
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With the statistics of the offensive man, there would be no discussion of a DFB nomination for many other players. Because the left foot has the numbers of a top star in his career.
In the eight years before moving to Turkey for Fenerbahce Istanbul in summer 2019, Kruse was always the top scorer of his club: 2011/2012 at St. Pauli, 2012/2013 at SC Freiburg, 2013 to 2015 in Mönchengladbach, 2015/2016 in Wolfsburg and from 2016 to 2019 at Werder Bremen.
Kruse: 162 scorer points in the Bundesliga career
In 260 Bundesliga games, the 32-year-old scored 162 points and was almost equally dangerous as a shooter and preparer (80 goals, 82 assists). Since Kruse’s first full season in the Bundesliga 2010/2011 until today, only Robert Lewandowski (329), Thomas Müller (259), Marco Reus (205) and Franck Ribery (162) have scored more goals.
The difference to the top stars: Kruse never played for a top club, but instead lifted his teams from midfield to the top of the table – like Union (Bundesliga game plan).
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One of the strongest Germans changed the previously very combative and uncreative game of the capital club massively.
Fixed point changes Union’s game
Last season Union was one of the teams with the most long steep passes and the second weakest pass rate. Sebastian Andersson was often sought after with high alludes and no team scored as few goals from the game as Union.
Now the Fischer-Elf appears completely different. Kruse is the playmaker’s fixed point, takes part in the build-up of the game, distributes the balls, determines the rhythm and is still present in the penalty area. In addition, Kruse is there in difficult situations and moves forward.
“Especially when it comes to possession, we have improved and are more confident,” said Fischer, explaining the change DAZN before the derby.
Köpenick’s club legend Thorsten Mattuschka said that SPORT1: “The face of this success is not Max Kruse, because he does not win the games alone.”
But Kruse is a very important conductor of the soaring. Without him, Union threatens to crash-land.
