RB Leipzig is morally damaged in the final to remain in a European competition against Manchester City. In the snowstorm in Berlin, the coronavirus-plagued Saxons suffered three defeats in a row for the first time in the Bundesliga at 1. FC Union by 1: 2 (1: 1). A lucky strike by Christopher Nkunku (13th minute) was not enough for grass ball sport and coach Marco Kurth, who acted as Jesse Marsch’s representative, in the stadium at the Alte Försterei.
The iron jumped through the goal of their record shooter Taiwo Awoniyi (6th) and the premier goal by Timo Baumgartl (57th) in front of 13,506 spectators in fourth place and gathered a lot of self-confidence for their international final on Thursday in the Conference League against Slavia Prague. Then another victory is needed for Union in order to continue to be in the European Cup. “We deservedly won over 90 minutes,” said Max Kruse. “We played a very strong game and could have won higher. We are not wrongly up there. “
Lawn ball sport should also beat Pep Guardiola’s Man City on Tuesday in order to be able to hibernate in the Europa League in a long-distance duel with Club Bruges. Against the English champions, however, a significant increase in performance is necessary after the next setback. In the last ten minutes, the Berliners were much closer to the possible 3: 1 than the generally disappointing Leipzigers to equalize. Managing director Oliver Mintzlaff at DAZN spoke of a “catastrophic” and “desolate” performance and analyzed relentlessly: “We played a shitty game.”
Fun start
“You have to go to the limit today to have a chance,” Union coach Urs Fischer said shortly before the game at DAZN and announced an offensive and courageous appearance. His team stuck to the guidelines. Somewhat surprisingly, the Berliners determined the initial phase and rewarded themselves with the opening goal early on. After a cross from Julian Ryerson, Baumgartl headed against Benjamin Henrichs. Awoniyi made it 1-0.
After his corona infection, head coach Marsch warned from the home office rather than the counterattacks of the Berliners, but these continued to be active and aggressive. Max Kruse had a huge chance to make it 2-0, but forgave free-standing (12th). Because Leipzig also wanted to avoid another setback in view of the recent two defeats, the audience saw an entertaining quarter of an hour – and a serious mistake by goalkeeper Andreas Luthe when equalizing.
The goalkeeper, who had been unlucky several times recently, let a shot from Nkunku slip over his hands into the goal. But the 34-year-old was immediately rebuilt by the supporters. Even in the subsequent tactical lurking phase, relatively simple means were sufficient for the hosts to avoid getting into danger. Leipzig looked like a team that is still looking for orientation.
The Berliners had better ideas. A cheeky puffed pass from Kruse landed at Awoniyi, who failed because of Peter Gulacsi (34th). The Leipzig goalkeeper was back in goal for the first time in two weeks after his corona infection. Dominik Szoboszlai with a shot from the edge of the penalty area (17th) and André Silva with a header (41st) had chances to make it 1: 2, but the second half went with a performance-based intermediate result of 1: 1. After the change, the snowfall increased in the capital, but the action on the lawn was similar to that of the first half.
Union started again more energetic and took the lead again. A deflected shot from Kruse landed at Baumgartl, who reacted quickly and pushed in to make it 2-1. Kruse was able to finish his working day barely 20 minutes before the end. From the bench, the former national player saw great opportunities for his teammates. Genki Haraguchi (81st), who came on for Kruse, and Kevin Behrens (83rd), who had just entered the game, gave away the possible 3: 1.
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