Next Friday, 08.03.2024, 1. FC Union Berlin will play away against VfB Stuttgart. Kick off at the MHPArena in the Bundesliga’s 25^th match day is at 20:30.

The lie of the land

VfB Stuttgart won 3-2 in Wolfsburg last weekend, a game that saw, Serhou Guirassy scoring his fourth brace of the season, taking his tally to 20 goals and three assists after 18 appearances.

Union, meanwhile, lost 2-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund.

The opponents

VfB Stuttgart are currently enjoying the best season in the club's history - even better at this stage than when they won the title in 2007 - and the best of any third-placed team in Bundesliga history. After 24 games played, the Swabians’ 50 points have come from 16 wins, only two draws and six losses. This puts them just four points behind the current champions Bayern, and six ahead of fourth placed Borussia Dortmund. Their 31 goals conceded are offset by the 55 goals scored making them the third-best attack in the league.

Much of this has been due to the attacking duo of Guirassy and Deniz Undav who with 34 goals and eight assists already this season, are behind only the duo of Harry Kane and Leroy Sané in the league. The two Bayern players have 35 goals and 16 assists between them.

Stuttgart have proved particularly difficult to beat in their own stadium. In 12 games at home, Sebastian Hoeneß’s side have won nine times and drawn twice, including against league leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Their single loss at the MHPArena came back in October when they lost 3-1 to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Following a 1-0 win against Union and 2-0 win over Dortmund, Stuttgart’s DFB Pokal journey came to an end in the quarter-finals when, thanks to a late goal from Jonathan Tah, they were overturned 3-2 by Leverkusen.

The reunions

There will be a reunion with Genki Haraguchi: The now 32-year-old Japanese player played for 1. FC Union Berlin from July 2021 until the beginning of last year. Since then, Haraguchi has played for VfB. Jamie Leweling is also currently on loan to the Swabians.

Rani Khedira and Benedict Hollerbach also have Stuttgart links. The former was at the club and played 128 times for the club, from the U17’s to the first team. The latter, meanwhile, played under current VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß in the U19s of FC Bayern Munich.

The head to head

The two teams have met seven times in Germany's top flight, with Union winning three, losing one (in the first half of the current season), while the other three ended in draws. Union also achieved promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time following two memorable clashes against Stuttgart at the end of the 2018/2019 season in the relegation play-offs. A 2-2 draw in the first leg in Baden-Württemberg was followed by a 0-0 draw at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, which was enough to secure promotion to the Bundesliga thanks to the away goals rule.

Personnel

Head coach Nenad Bjelica has the entire squad at his disposal.

The coaches’ views ahead of the game

"VfB Stuttgart are an opponent that have put in outstanding performances this season and has shown a particular strength at home,” said Union’s head coach, Nenad Bjelica, during his press conference on Thursday afternoon. “We're looking forward to the game and believe we will get our chances, which we want to exploit efficiently. We can draw from a full squad and want to be compact and organized so that we can reward ourselves against a top-four team."

Meanwhile VfB coach Hoeneß saw the game on Friday evening thus: "They've taken a lot of points under the new coach. They are in the middle of the table and have totally stabilized. They're hard-working and play deep. It's not easy to score goals against Union. It's a big board that we have to drill." "I'm delighted, and so are the lads. Floodlit games at home, sold out - that's something special. But we want to score points with a good game. That has to be the goal," Hoeneß continued.

Service information

Union will be supported by a good 2,600 fans in Stuttgart. Further information on your trip can be found here (German)

The match will be broadcast live on DAZN and there will also be an audio stream on rbb24 Inforadio and rbb24. As usual, Union will also provide information about the match in the club's own live ticker, as well as in English and Spanish on Twitter.