Union Berlin claim impressive win at Werder Bremen
Bülter at the double:
Marius Bülter scored his fifth and sixth goals of his first Bundesliga campaign to fire 1. FC Union Berlin to an outstanding 2-0 win at Werder Bremen.
The wide man's excellent display was capped off with two excellent goals in the second half to make sure the three points returned to Berlin-Köpenick.
SV Werder Bremen: Pavlenka; Moisander, Vogt, Toprak (Sargent 69); Bittencourt, Friedl, Eggestein, Klaassen; Osako (Pizarro 77), Selke (Bartels 69), Rashica
1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Subotic, Hübner, Schlotterbeck; Trimmel, Lenz, Andrich, Gentner (Prömel 63); Malli (Ingvartsen 63), Andersson, Bülter (Ryerson 89)
The squad of Urs Fischer has been put to the test this week with the final of three back-to-back away matches. On Wednesday, the defeat in Dortmund was put to bed as the Köpenick club reached the DFB Pokal quarter-finals for the first time in 19 years. From that win in Verl, Fischer made four changes – Yunus Malli, Bülter, Neven Subotic and Florian Hübner coming in to the starting line-up. Werder Bremen knocked Dortmund out of the German Cup in midweek and Florian Kohlfeldt restored Ömer Toprak to a central defensive position.
The first 45 minutes ended in stalemate at the Weser-Stadion with Union frustrating Kohlfeldt's men when they were in control of the ball. Union kept a compact 3-4-3 structure against the ball and goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz barely had a touch. On 27 minutes, Maxi Eggestein could have hit the target and caused Union problems from 12 yards after Keven Schlotterbeck had given the ball away in a dangerous position. The team in red, backed by a vociferous 5,000 supporters in the upper-tier of the stadium, contained Bremen throughout. At the other end of the pitch, Christian Gentner's shot on 43 minutes was a sign of things to come, but the midfielder struck way over the bar.
Once the teams had returned from the break, it was clear Union meant business. A day after signing his contract extension with the club, Andersson was inches away from celebrating the opener with a great header, which was saved by Jiri Pavlenka. Two minutes later, Malli held the ball up impressively, picking out Christopher Lenz on the left-hand side. The full-back charged into an attacking position and crossed for Bülter who ran across the Bremen defence and slid home to put Union ahead. Considering the exploits of midweek, it was little surprise to see Fischer rotate his squad on the hour mark – Marcus Ingvartsen came on for Malli, whilst Grischa Prömel earned game time for the third match running following his long injury absence. Pavlenka had to stay on his toes to keep out Lenz after 66 minutes when the left-back cut inside on to his right and almost found the bottom corner. The Bremen keeper was left helpless when Union did score for the second time and give the away side a comfortable cushion. Bülter's powerful run set up Andersson who missed from close range, but the rebound came back to the 26-year-old and he finished brilliantly from the tightest of angles. The former SV Rödinghausen and Magdeburg wide man was given a rapturous applause at the end from the Union fans as he was replaced by Julian Ryerson. The Norwegian did his role to help Fischer's men see out the 90 minutes and secure a second Bundesliga away win of the 2019/20 campaign.
1. FC Union Berlin's next outing is back at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei when Peter Bosz's Bayer Leverkusen are the visitors on Saturday at 15:30.
