Sport Five bankruptcies in a row
This is how manager Ruhnert explains the crisis at 1. FC Union
Status: 01.10.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Union Berlin has to put an end to a completely messed up month as quickly as possible. There isn’t even time for proper training before the special Champions League home game. As for the crisis, the manager gives a crucial reason.
They don’t have much time to think about the reasons for the crisis. The next competitive game awaits on Tuesday: 70,000 fans are expected in the Olympic Stadium when 1. FC Union hosts Sporting Braga in their second game of the Champions League group phase (6.45 p.m./DAZN).
As great as the joy of being involved in the premier class is, there are difficult days that the Union team is currently experiencing. Things that worked well on the pitch a few weeks ago suddenly don’t work anymore – and culminated in the fifth competitive defeat in a row at newly promoted 1. FC Heidenheim on Saturday.
“Now everything is coming together,” said manager Oliver Ruhnert the day after the 0-1 defeat. Urs Fischer, the coach, reacted similarly immediately after the bankruptcy: “We don’t reward ourselves. Then the situation looks as it is.”
Unusual frustration experiences
And the situation is anything but pleasant. Before the game against Sporting Braga, the pressure to succeed is increasing. After years of pure luck, 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.
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Since the club brought in top-class professionals such as national player Robin Gosens, European champion Leonardo Bonucci and striker Kevin Volland 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 again, also didn’t have his best day. Volland was still under suspension. The sonorous additions that football Germany was amazed at in the summer have not yet brought a real Champions League feeling.
The opponent celebrates: newly promoted team 1. FC Heidenheim is happy about the 1-0 win against 1. FC Union Berlin
Source: dpa/Bernd Weißbrod
Manager 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,” said Ruhnert on “Bild” on Sunday, referring to the additions of Bonucci and Gosens. Knoche is not expected to return against Braga either.
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The manager only sees the double burden of the Champions League and Bundesliga as a problem to a limited extent. “We are already in our third year internationally. But now it seems to have a different quality this season because we certainly have a lot of things on our minds and not just the Bundesliga. And perhaps crucial percentages will be lost a bit,” admitted Ruhnert
Union is also under pressure against Braga in the premier class after the brave 0-1 opening win at Real Madrid. 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.”
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Captain Christopher Trimmel seemed a bit disillusioned when he spoke about the club’s 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 of this leads 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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