26th matchday
2-1 against Bremen: Union moves away from the relegation places
Union professional Yorbe Vertessen (2nd from left) scores to make it 1-0. photo
© Andreas Gora/dpa
Finally another win, finally goals again: Union Berlin takes a big step towards staying in the league with a 2-1 win at home against Werder Bremen.
The Union goals were scored by Yorbe Vertessen (50th minute) and Brenden Aaronson (52nd) in front of 22,012 spectators in the sold-out An der Alten Försterei stadium. With their sixth win in their eighth direct duel, the Iron Men moved within two points of Werder in the table. Mitchell Weiser (63′) only scored for Bremen to make it 1-2.
Union coach Bjelica sent a new attacking duo onto the pitch from the start, Vertessen and Mikkel Kaufmann, to remedy the misery in attack. Directly behind, the fast and agile Aaronson should cause unrest in the opposing half. In the opening minutes, the American was also the most noticeable player on the pitch with a large radius of action, although his team was initially unable to capitalize on it. In the final third, as in the previous weeks, the visually superior Berliners lacked penetration.
Werder largely limited themselves to their defensive tasks and only hesitantly looked for a way into the offensive – but still had the first big chance of the game. After a counterattack, Weiser (24th) hit the post from around ten meters; the ball was decisively deflected by Union defender Danilho Doekhi with the tip of his foot.
Fans cause disruption
After that the game became even more disjointed and the severity increased. Within four minutes, the Union team received three yellow cards from Kevin Vogt, Robin Gosens and Lucas Tousart. Marvin Ducksch, who was not nominated by national coach Julian Nagelsmann for the first two international matches of the European Championship year, was a disappointment for Bremen. The attacker also received a yellow card shortly before the half-time whistle for complaining.
Immediately after the restart, referee Daniel Schlager interrupted the game because pyrotechnics were set off in the away fan block. When the ball rolled again, Union was immediately wide awake: First, winter newcomer Vertessen scored his first league goal for Union with a powerful left-foot shot, shortly afterwards Aaronson followed up. In both situations, the Bremen defense around defense chief Milos Veljkovic, who got fit in time after back problems, didn’t look good.
The guests increased the pressure offensively and were rewarded with Weiser’s header goal after a corner in which Union goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow didn’t cut a good figure. On the other hand, this created space for Berlin to counterattack. Tousart missed a huge chance to make it 3-1 (67th). Defensively, Union was largely secure in the final phase.