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Three goals to start pre-season

Win over Viktoria:

Wed, 29. June 2022
Three goals to start pre-season

1. FC Union Berlin's preparations for the new Bundesliga season have begun with a 3-1 win at Viktoria Berlin.

Sven Michel scored two goals in the first half to open up Union's pre-season campaign, while substitute Andreas Voglsammer netted after 59 minutes. Ünal Durmurshan struck as a second-half substitute for Viktoria Berlin, but it was a consolation for the Regionalliga outfit.

Viktoria Berlin: Kinzig (Schulz 60); Cvjetinovic, Kewald (Durmushan 60), Sucsuz (Michael 55); Tougio (Frimpong 60), Inler (Cvjetinovic 60), Günay, Maric; Thiesen (Mattmüller 55), Yilmaz (Skakun 55), Küc

1. FC Union Berlin: Busk (Stein 45); Endo (Dehl 45), Heintz (Van Drongelen 45), Doekhi (Jaeckel 45), Gießelmann (Knoche 45); Maciejewski (Öztunali 45), Kemlein (Seguin 55), Möhwald (Skarke 45), Becker (Pantovic 45); Sanogo (Voglsammer 45), Michel (Behrens 45)

Nine days since Urs Fischer's squad returned for pre-season training, the first opportunity to get minutes in the legs was against the relegated 3.Liga side from Berlin. Union's starting line-up featured new arrival Danilho Doekhi and the returning Jakob Busk who wore the captain's armband as Union's second longest-serving player. Also featuring were Aljoscha Kemlein and Malick Sanogo from Union's academy, while Tim Maciejewski was back in action after last season's loan deal at Austria Klagenfurt. Young Sanogo threatened with a run in behind after 45 seconds and the resulting corner kick opened the scoring. Niko Gießelmann took the short corner with Sheraldo Becker and Sven Michel headed in from the centre of the penalty box. Fresh off of signing his extended contract at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, Becker chipped in a great cross for Michel who missed after 11 minutes. The Surinamese international hit the post after 18 minutes with Union taking advantage of some unforced errors at the back. Despite Union's bright start, Viktoria asked questions of their own at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. Christopher Theisen ran through on the Union goal but Jakob Busk responded with a decisive block. Jakob Lewald was left free on 31 minutes and headed Enes Küc's cross at the Danish goalkeeper. A minute later, Becker teed up young Sanogo – who will celebrate his 18th birthday tomorrow – but he was slightly off balance and unable to direct his header goalwards. An exact replica of the same chance fell to Michel and this time, the header looped beyond the Viktoria goalkeeper Max Kinzig. Diran Günay hit the target from the right side of the box on 38 minutes but Busk was down low to make a routine save. 

Just Kemlein remained on the park for the start of the second 45 minutes. The German U18 international impressed and fired a shot on target straight after the restart. The remainder of Fischer's side was made up of Yannic Stein, Paul Jaeckel, Laurenz Dehl, Robin Knoche, Ricky van Drongelen, Tim Skarke, Andreas Voglsammer, Kevin Behrens, Milos Pantovic and Levin Öztunali. Union had the ball over the line on 49 minutes with Pantovic striking past Kinzig but the referee had blown up for a handball. Kemlein's game was up after 55 minutes when new signing Paul Seguin was introduced following a reserved start to pre-season due to illness. Öztunali combined with Skarke who picked out Voglsammer at the back-post, the striker making it 3-0 for Union. Öztuanli nearly picked out Behrens for a fourth on 67 minutes while his shot from range was punched clear by Viktoria substitute goalkeeper Marten Schulz. Ricardo Michael shot over for the home side and it wasn't long before substitute Durmurshan found himself in the box with time and he slotted past Union's Stein. The first pre-season match came to a close punctually after 90 minutes and Union will continue to get set for competitive action, starting with 1. FC Magdeburg on Saturday July 2 at 16:30.

"The players trained hard this morning. I'm happy how it went today," said Urs Fischer after the 3-1 win in Berlin. "We were active, we pushed, the tiredness of this morning's training was put away. I'm happy."