Julian Ryerson scored the goal of the day for 1. FC Union in Haifa.
Photo: imago images / Matthias Koch
The man of the evening sat on a red box after the final whistle at the Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa. Julian Ryerson had to put a pain relieving cold pack on his right thigh. Nevertheless, the 1. FC Union Berlin defender looked happily at the around 500 Berlin fans who had traveled with him after his team’s 1-0 success in the group stage of the Europa Conference League at Maccabi Haifa.
A few days after the 2-0 win against Hertha BSC in the Bundesliga, they were still in a bit of a derby mood. They sang a song in a loop that could become a hit: “Union is playing in Europe, Hertha is in bed”. Ryerson swayed along and laughed. He had to be replaced shortly before the end of the game. But his header from the 66th minute gave Union the chance to actually hibernate in the European Cup.
Therefore, before the next Bundesliga game on Sunday at Eintracht Frankfurt, it was to be gotten over the fact that both teams had offered below-average performance. «It was a very important victory for us. In the game with the ball, however, that was not a revelation. We had too many easy ball losses. But in the end we achieved this sub-goal, ”said coach Urs Fischer. “Due to the 2-2 draw between Prague and Rotterdam, we still had the opportunity to qualify for the next round as runners-up in the last game.
The round of 16 remains attainable
The group final against Slavia Prague will take place on December 9th in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. With a win, Union could qualify for the playoffs to the round of 16. If that is achieved, then a lot of Union supporters will want to travel again, no matter what corner of Europe. “We always have fans with us. We experienced it ourselves. The trip to Israel is not without it. And we players got through the controls well. Therefore, my great appreciation goes to those who managed to come here, ”said attacker Max Kruse.
The preparation for the fans for this trip to a very special away game was indeed more extensive than ever before. Before the longest trip the Berliners had to date in the European Cup and immediately after arriving in Tel Aviv, a corona infection had to be ruled out using PCR tests. However, the result was not available in good time for every fan before the outbound flight. In addition, there were the usual strict safety regulations when traveling to Israel.
Afterwards, Union fans had very different experiences with the Haifa supporters. There were scenes of fraternization and parties together. However, some Berliners were attacked by hooligans with stones and pepper spray before and after the game.
Sign against anti-Semitism
Fortunately, the club’s officials were spared that after the unpleasant events of the last trip to Rotterdam. But for them too – especially after the anti-Semitic incidents in the first leg against Haifa in Berlin – it was not a normal guest appearance: On Thursday morning, a club delegation of around ten, headed by President Dirk Zingler and Managing Director Oskar Kosche, traveled to Jerusalem, about two hours away by bus from Haifa. There the association representatives visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. After a two-hour tour, Zingler and Kosche laid a wreath of 1. FC Union in the memorial hall, on the floor of which the names of the 22 largest concentration camps are engraved. In addition, Zingler signed the book of the children’s memorial, which commemorates 1.5 million Jewish children killed. “We felt a deep need to use our official trip to Israel to visit this special place and I am very grateful that we could be here,” said Zingler. “Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is still present in our society and we are all called upon to fight it consistently.”
In the first leg in Berlin (3-0), some Union fans insulted Jewish visitors and tried to burn an Israeli flag. Union condemned this and already excluded one member of the association because of it.
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