1. FC Union Berlin's excellent first-half performance was in vain as Urs Fischer's side went down 1-2 at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frankfurt took all three points from Köpenick with Bas Dost and Andre Silva scoring the goals in the first 17 minutes of the second half. Substitutes Sheraldo Becker and Anthony Ujah combined on 86 minutes, the Nigerian slotting home from the edge of the box — his first Bundesliga goal for the club.
There were four new faces in the starting line-up off the back of last week’s defeat in Leverkusen — Neven Subotic, Akaki Gogia, Manuel Schmiedebach & Ken Reichel took their place from the start, while Keven Schlotterbeck, Marcus Ingvartsen and Sheraldo Becker dropped to the bench. Meanwhile, Christopher Lenz sustained an injury in his last appearance at the BayArena and missed out.
Fischer called out his side’s issues last weekend and the start showed an energetic response. Union threatened on numerous occasions around the box, dominating one-vs-one but missing the final pass or shot. A corner kick, smartly kept on the ground, led to a shot from Marvin Friedrich who was denied by excellent reflexes from Frankfurt’s Kevin Trapp. The Union Berlin central defender — his solitary goal in Stuttgart securing our eventual promotion — intervened at the other end on 16 minutes, making a last-ditch slide tackle to stop Andre Silva in his tracks. Robert Andrich skied a long-range shot around the half hour period before two strikes in quick succession from Reichel kept Trapp on his toes. The defence fought strongly against a dynamic Frankfurt attack throughout, but towards the end of the half they relied on a fine save from Rafal Gikiewicz, who clawed out a header from Silva.
The second period got off to the worst possible start for Fischer's men. Dost reacted quickest from the loose ball to score after Filip Kostic's strike was parried out by Gikiewicz. A minute off the hour mark, Union's game plan was dealt a blow when Gogia took a heavy knock to his knee on the sideline with Becker coming on as his replacement. Three minutes later, Frankfurt countered ruthlessly from end-to-end to score the second: Djibril Sow's pin-point delivery was headed into the net by Silva. Fischer wasted little time to shuffle the park with Ujah and Joshua Mees replacing Schmiedebach and Marius Bülter. A good period of pressure with a quarter of an hour left increased hopes of a late fightback. Trapp earned his wages with a string of fine saves — in particular from Becker who cut inside to shoot on his left foot after 76 minutes. The Dutch winger turned provider with four minutes left at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. Becker drilled the ball into the feet of Ujah and the Nigerian striker finished off with a neat finish. Despite the late consolation, Adi Hütter's team held on to take all three points back to the Commerzbank-Arena.
After a string of frustrating results, Union Berlin will look to overturn their arrears next Sunday at the Volkswagen Arena against VfL Wolfsburg.
Friday Night clash as Frankfurt travel to Berlin
Match preview
1. FC Union Berlin will compete in the Bundesliga under the Friday night floodlights with Eintracht Frankfurt making the trip to the capital.
Review: Knock on the road in Leverkusen, Frankfurt impressing
Union Berlin suffered a defeat at Bayer Leverkusen last weekend with goals from Kevin Volland and Lucas Alario putting the promoted club to the sword. A frustrating afternoon for Urs Fischer’s team who left with little to be content with. “We have shown against Leverkusen what we shouldn’t allow ourselves to do. We need to call on our strengths, mentality, togetherness and quality every weekend. The first 20 minutes did not go as we expected. There are certain games like that. We just need to make sure it doesn’t happen again on Friday,“ added the coach at the press conference, an hour after confirming his new contract.
Meanwhile, Adi Hütter’s Frankfurt are juggling with multiple competitions this campaign, a reward for last season’s highly impressive performances. The Eagles have 7 points from 5 in the Bundesliga, earning a 2-2 draw in their last outing at home to Borussia Dortmund. Andre Silva, one of the summer’s new attacking recruits, levelled at the Commerzbank-Arena before an own goal from Thomas Delaney guaranteed a point two minutes from the end. In the group stages of the UEFA Europa League, Frankfurt went toe-to-toe with Arsenal and looked strong, but were left disappointed with a 0-3 home defeat.
Record: Frankfurt on top overall
Historically, Union have been second best to Eintracht Frankfurt. Our strongest performances came in 2002 when the Eagles competed in the 2.Bundesliga. In the financial capital of Europe, Union held on to a 2-2 draw and continued this form into the home clash with a 1-1 share of spoils. Elsewhere, Frankfurt have ran out convincing winners — the last meeting a 0-4 loss in the second division in 2012.
Personnel: Doubts over duo
Fischer confirmed at the pre-match press conference that there are doubts over Christopher Lenz and Suleiman Abdullahi — a decision will be made after the final training session. Grischa Prömel is still training individually, while Florian Hübner is back in full training. Sebastian Polter will be suspended following his red card in Leverkusen. Neven Subotic is once again available for consideration.
Service: Sold out
There are no more tickets available for the game against Frankfurt.
Fans should utilise all methods of transport for the match. There are limited parking spaces around the stadium. The club would recommend using public transport or travel by bike.
