On Sunday morning, Marco Grote, 51, had an appointment with Union club president Dirk Zingler. And found out what he must have suspected the evening before when the appointment was scheduled. His time as interim coach of the first team of 1. FC Union Berlin was over after one game; After the 1-1 draw against FC Augsburg on Saturday and after being showered with thanks, he will be coach of the second team again. What Grote only found out in the afternoon was the name of his successor: it is the Croatian Nenad Bjelica, 52, who was the coach at the Turkish first division club Trabzonspor until October.
“I am convinced that Nenad Bjelica, with his many years of experience as a player and coach, will fit in well with our team,” manager Oliver Ruhnert was quoted as saying in a club statement. Bjelica’s task was clearly outlined there by Ruhnert: “to successfully master the mission of staying in the league.” After ten winless games in a row, 1. FC Union is second to last in the Bundesliga, just one point ahead of bottom club 1. FC Köln.
Bjelica’s appointment deflated a balloon that had caused a stir on Sunday night – all the way beyond the Pyrenees. The specialist magazine Kicker had reported that there were increasing signs that Union would sign Real Madrid icon Raúl González, currently coach of the second team of the Spanish record champions (and player at Schalke 04 from 2010 to 2012). The day before, she had Picture-Newspaper called the name into the room.
The speculation was mainly fueled by the fact that Union is proven not to be afraid of big names (see Isco, Bonucci, Gosens), that Xabi Alonso, as Leverkusen coach, demonstrated how one can strengthen one’s reputation even with a German relegation candidate – and Raúl himself knows very well that he has no foreseeable chance of seeing his dream of a job as coach of the Real Madrid first team come true. Regardless of whether Carlo Ancelotti extends his contract as head coach, which expires in the summer, or not. A few months ago, Raúl negotiated more or less openly with Villarreal FC.
Kevin Volland secures Union’s first Bundesliga point since match day two
However, it was heard in Köpenick on Sunday that Raúl had never been contacted. There were certainly no discussions and he was never on the list of candidates. Nevertheless, the name was also debated among Köpenick team members on Saturday – both before and after the 1-1 draw against Augsburg.
The game provided an indication that Bjelica is taking over a functioning team. A team that has not given up and is far from giving up. An indication of this was the way the first point was won after nine defeats in a row: in the 88th minute, and after blows to the neck that you can’t digest when there is a creak in the team’s rafters. Augsburg’s lead was legitimate given the course of the game, but from Köpenick’s perspective it came about in a disturbingly tragic way: through a foul penalty (38th) caused by Robin Gosens and converted by Ermedin Demirovic, the award of which was controversial.
In fact, the scene that led to the whistle was so confusing that the VAR delegated the field referee Florian Badstübner to the screen. Badstübner didn’t let the images deter him; he saw Gosens’ borderline attack as a foul. And yet: After the break, Union was able to improve. Kevin Volland’s equalizer came after another setback for the Union team: defense chief Robin Knoche missed a penalty kick (58′).
Bjelica led Austria Vienna into the Champions League
At this point the game was poised to make the mourning of the farewell to Urs Fischer and his assistant Markus Hoffmann the story of the day. Countless posters were displayed in the stands with touching expressions of thanks. “You made dreams come true that we didn’t actually have. Thank you Urs & Hoffi,” said the largest poster that could be seen in the An der Alten Försterei stadium. It not only alluded to the almost incomparable rise from the second division team to this year’s Champions League participant, but also gave an idea of what kind of footsteps Bjelica is now following.
Bjelica said he was looking forward to the “challenge” and wanted to overcome it with “active and dominant football”. He himself knows the Bundesliga from an intermezzo at 1. FC Kaiserslautern (2001 to 2004), but he was primarily active in Austria. He achieved his best results with Austria Vienna – he led the “Veilchen” into the group stage of the Champions League – and with Dinamo Zagreb, with whom he became champion, cup winner and Supercup winner. He then led NK Osijek to second and third place in the Croatian league. He also worked in Italy at Spezia Calcio and in Poland at Lech Poznan, most recently at Trabzonspor. In Berlin he ends up with his own assistant coach, and for the time being Marie-Louise Eta will also be part of the coaching staff, who was already on the bench at Union in the same role on Saturday. She is supposed to help Bjelica with tough tests. On Wednesday, Union travels to Portugal to fight for Champions League points against SC Braga. And next weekend we go to FC Bayern.