4th matchday: “Like Leicester City”: Union Berlin mixes up the league

4th matchday
“Like Leicester City”: Union Berlin mixes up the league

Union’s Morten Thorsby (l) passes Schalke’s goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow for the Berlin tour. photo

© David Indian song / dpa

Qualification for the Europa League last season – and now? Union Berlin continues to amaze in the Bundesliga. The coach remains modest as usual.

Schalke’s well-travelled defensive veteran Maya Yoshida was already thinking of one of the biggest football sensations of recent years when it came to 1. FC Union Berlin.

“They don’t have the quality of Bayern Munich,” said the 34-year-old after the Berlin goal show in a 6-1 win over Schalke. “But they are very strict with their structure and are playing well – just like Leicester City did a few years ago.”

Even the completely surprising English champions of 2016 did not have the best players and the most money: With good organization and clear structures, the Premier League club would have trumped the heavyweights from Manchester, London and Liverpool and won the championship title. Union is not that far yet, but the short-term leaders are stirring up the Bundesliga again this season.

“We’re happy to take ten points from four games”

Ten points from four games, the Berliners themselves hadn’t expected that. “But we’re happy to take that with us,” said defender Robin Knoche on Saturday and smiled. The 30-year-old emphasized the “compactness” and the “collective” as the strengths of the Europa League starter.

Year after year, the Köpenicker manage to absorb the departures of top performers who seem to be indispensable. Top scorer Taiwo Awoniyi is gone, then Sheraldo Becker and newcomer Jordan Siebatcheu shake up the opposing defenses. Becker has already scored his third and fourth goals at FC Schalke 04 this season. Joker Sven Michel also showed with a brace that coach Urs Fischer can rely on his second row.

“Everyone is there. That’s what sets us apart,” Knoche said, also looking at the substitutes. The other Berlin hits came from the conspicuous Morten Thorsby and Janik Haberer. Ex-Unioner Marius Bülter scored a hand penalty for Schalke. Union had never scored six goals in a Bundesliga game.

On the table situation: “You can frame that as a photo”

A week before the top game against FC Bayern in the An der Alten Försterei stadium, the Fischer team presented themselves extremely efficiently up front against Schalke, who were very error-prone in defence. In defense, the 2019 climber from the capital hardly allowed anything, especially in the second round.

Fischer also emphasized the efficiency. Despite the brilliant victory, the Swiss remained matter-of-fact as usual. “It’s important for us to classify that correctly,” he said. “It was definitely too high a result after 90 minutes.” Regarding the table situation on the fourth matchday, he said: “It’s a nice picture, you can frame it as a photo. But I’m interested after the 34th matchday.”

dpa

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