On Thursday, 21.03.24, 1. FC Union Berlin will face the second division team 1. FC Magdeburg in a friendly. Kick off at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei is at 12:00.

The lie of the land

Although it is just a friendly, the visitors from Magdeburg will certainly be traveling to the capital with some frustration, having just suffered a 7-0 away defeat at Karlsruher SC last weekend. Union, on the other hand, won their Bundesliga match 2-1 against SV Werder Bremen on Saturday after two consecutive defeats.

The opponents

After 26 2. Liga games played, FCM are currently 12th in the table, with 31 points so far, from eight wins, seven draws and 11 losses. Christian Titz's team have scored 38 goals so far, but have also conceded 41. All this followed a strong start to the season that saw them unbeaten in their first five games and rising to third place, but this was followed by eight games without a win.

Over the last few weeks, Magdeburg have suffered two defeats against KSC and Nuremberg, as well as 0-0 draw against Paderborn. They haven't won since the end of February, when FCM beat FC Schalke 04 3-0.

This season's DFB Pokal run that saw wins against Jahn RFegensburg and Holstein Kiel ended in the round of 16 when they lost 2-1 to the semi-finalists Fortuna Düsseldorf. 

The head to head

The two sides have met in 42 competitive matches, most of which took place in the GDR's Oberliga. Of these, Magdeburg have 21 wins, Union 13, and there have been eight draws. The last competitive matches took place in Union's 2. Liga promotion season of 2018/19, with the first game ending in a 1-1 draw while Union won the second 3-0 on the penultimate matchday to secure third place in the table. To say the sides were experiencing differing emotions that day would be somewhat of an understatement, for Magdeburg the defeat meant relegation to the third division.

The two teams last met in a friendly as part of the 2022 summer preparations, when Union ran out 4-1 winners.

The personnel

Union head coach Nenad Bjelica will have to make do without those players called up for their national teams during the international break. These are Brenden Aaronson (USA), Aïssa Laïdouni (Tunisia), Diogo Leite (Portugal), András Schäfer (Hungary), Josip Juranović (Croatia) and Frederik Rönnow (Denmark). Janik Haberer is also still missing through injury.

Service information

The Stadion An der Alten Försterei opens one hour before kick-off. Tickets for Union members are still available online and at tall Zeughaus stores. Parking spaces are not available on site. AFTV will be offering a live stream for those unable to attend live.

As usual, Union will also provide information about the match via the club's own live ticker, as well as in English and Spanish on Twitter.