With the same gradual casualness with which autumn is gradually coming to Berlin, RB Leipzig has put an end to 1. FC Union Berlin’s impressive home run of 24 games without defeat. Leipzig won 3-0 on Sunday – and thus achieved the same result that appeared on the scoreboard on February 13, 2022, when Borussia Dortmund was the last opponent to take Köpenick. The BVB coach at the time was Marco Rose, who is now training Leipzig.
The Saxons pushed past the Berliners, who have the same number of points, and are now in fourth place with six points. Mitigating circumstances could apply to the Unioners insofar as they had to play a good half hour outnumbered because of a red card.
Union fans with a well-known protest against the “RB Leipzig construct”
A visit from RB Leipzig to Koepenick is always and necessarily a reminder of the first day Union Berlin spent in the Bundesliga. Just like back in the summer of 2019, there was another fifteen-minute protest silence by Union fans against the “RB Leipzig construct” on Sunday. But that’s it for the most part with the similarities. Union is no longer that shy entity that can be overrun 4-0 at home like it was back then – but an established Champions League participant like Leipzig on a first-name basis. And, vice versa, whose respect has been earned.
You could see that, among other things, in the dogged seriousness with which Leipzig went into the game. She was absolutely equal to the standard that Union regularly delivers. The aesthetics of a game inevitably suffer when 22 men with switchblades face off. Unless they happen to be called “Jets” or “Sharks” and are playing in the dance classic “West Side Story”. But: That didn’t mean that the game was to be underestimated or that it was devoid of any tension. On the contrary.
The fact that the number of chances to score in the first half was limited was mainly due to the attentiveness of the respective defenses. Basically, Union only found a small crack in a dense defensive grid of the guests when starting eleven debutant Kevin Volland failed at full speed with a head at RB keeper Janis Blaswich (13th); Leipzig tried from a distance via Yussuf Poulsen (15th) and Xavi Simons (20th). Otherwise, Union’s last-minute access Leonardo Bonucci from Italy saw what is called intensity on the other side of the Alps. Leipzig also had a celebrity among the bench pressers: Timo Werner, a striker who had just been kicked out by national coach Hansi Flick. Like Unions Bonucci, he was not used.
A badly timed tackle forces Union Berlin outnumbered
What they saw just after the break was a bluff. The flavor of the game would not change – that was the message that emanated from the first few minutes. But then Kevin Kampl drove the ball in front of him until he spotted Benjamin Henrichs, who put the ball back on Xavi Simons. The Dutchman with the Catalan first name carefully circled the ball from 17 meters under the crossbar (51st) – and thus made it 1-0 for Leipzig. Shortly thereafter, referee Daniel Schlager drew the spotlight: After he had made an uncertain impression in the first half, he now practiced certainty and dismissed Union striker Volland for a badly timed tackle against Mohamed Simakan with a straight red. Rose took the Simakan, who was brutally hissed in the following sequences, off the field. Also in the knowledge that the majority could only play into his hands.
This was also due to the fact that it was now even more noticeable how much Union suffers from injury concerns, especially in midfield. Leipzig ruled with great sovereignty and objectivity; one of the few moments in which something like art appeared was a 20-metre lob by Dani Olmo, which Union goalkeeper Fredrik Rönnow parried brilliantly. Or a shot by Henrichs after an Olmo submission (83′). And the 2-0 and 3-0 for Leipzig, which substitute Benjamin Sesko scored: the 2-0 (85th minute) after a counterattack, which he made successful with speed and delicate ball skill, the 3-0 with one Header after Olmo’s outside step (86′). This was at a time when the ranks had fallen silent. However, not as a protest like at the beginning of the game, but because of an emergency doctor’s intervention in the guest block.