The first half ended with a goalless draw when Real Madrid proved extremely stuck in penetrating the dense and highly organized defense of the German representative.
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Who is Union Berlin that makes Toni Kroos and David Alaba speak out?”I want to warn everyone a bit about Union Berlin. I know what kind of team they are. I’ve watched some of their matches and let me tell you, it won’t be easy to play.” (Kroos)”I played against them when I was with Bayern Munich and I know how difficult the match will be.” (Alaba)
Who is Union Berlin?This German club was founded in 1906, but officially had its current name in 1966. This is one of the “smallest” clubs in the current Bundesliga, in terms of club size (finance, stadium) and Young age in Germany’s highest division. This club nicknamed the Iron Army (roughly translated from Eisernen/Eisern Union – The Iron Ones) has just been promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in history in the 2019/20 season, after overcoming VfB Stuttgart in 2 play matches. -off. The current season is also the first time they have participated in the Champions League.But don’t be quick to underestimate their little experience at a high level, because this team shows that their progress has grown over time, an amazing improvement:
● In the 2019/20 season, playing in the Bundesliga for the first time, Union Berlin only ranked 11th with 41 points.● The following season they finished in 7th place with 50 points, qualifying for the Europa Conference League (UECL) the following season.● By the 2021/22 season, despite being eliminated in the UECL group stage, this team continued to progress to take 5th place domestically with 57 points, winning tickets to the Europa League (UEL) next season.● Last season, despite only reaching the 1/16 UEL round, the Iron Army continued to prove its class by finishing the domestic race in 4th place with 62 points, officially having a ticket to play in the tournament. Europe’s most prestigious competition – Champions League (UCL).They became the 15th German representative to attend this playground in the tournament’s history – the most among any country (Spain is behind with 13 clubs).In addition, the value of Union Berlin’s squad also shows the club’s remarkable progress. After 4 years since 2019 when they first played in the Bundesliga, their value has increased more than 5.5 times from 36 million Euro to now 200 million Euro when participating in UCL.Some prominent names in the current Iron Army squad: captain right-back Christopher Trimmel, German left-back Robin Gosens, veteran center-back Leonardo Bonucci, America’s star midfielder Brenden Aaronson, young striker Potential Datro Fofana borrowed from Chelsea, veteran striker Kevin Volland and striker Kevin Behrens.
What strengths does this team have?Unfortunately, Union Berlin’s strength is also one of Real Madrid’s weaknesses: high balls!Coach Urs Fischer’s team often plays with a 3-5-2 formation. This Swiss teacher led Basel Club to win his home tournament twice, and started his career at Union Berlin in the 2018/19 season. He was also recently voted “Best Coach of the Year” by German sports journalists.
Through the first 4 rounds in the Bundesliga, Fischer’s team had 2 victories and 2 defeats. Notably, of the 9 goals they scored, 7 were from headers! If only counting the first 2 rounds, they are the team with the best in the tournament, scoring 8 goals, including 6 goals with heads. The player who created this mark is striker Kevin Behrens.He was the first player to score a hat-trick with a header in the Bundesliga (in the match against Mainz 05 round 1), since detailed data was collected in the 2004/05 season. All 4 of his goals so far have been in the air, and only “King of B.0m” Gerd Müller is the German player with more goals than Behrens after the opening 2 matches (6, 1977/78 season). .He also showed the ability to take advantage of good opportunities when he scored 4 goals in 4 matches with only an xG (expected goals) parameter of 2.1. Behrens is the player with the highest score on the team after 4 rounds.But this team is not only strong. Stadion An der Alten Försterei’s home ground and their passionate fans are the scary thing.
Union Berlin is the only club unbeaten at home last season, among the top 5 European leagues. Before losing 3-0 to RB Leipzig in round 3 because of losing someone due to a red card, they had a series of 24 matches without losing at home, the best record in the Bundesliga at that time. The last time Union Berlin lost at home was when they welcomed Dortmund in February 2022.Alten Försterei Stadium only has a capacity of 22,012 seats. But what makes this stadium special is that it has up to 18,000 seats! This, combined with the overwhelming enthusiasm of the fans, will always help the stadium’s stands become extremely vibrant to the point of excitement, making opponents wary. A true mecca despite its small size.
As for the fans of the Iron Army, they are definitely one of the best fans in the world, because of the effort, money, sweat, and even ma’u they have contributed to building. Club today.In 2008, when Union Berlin’s stadium was seriously degraded, it was likely to have its operating license revoked and be banned from participating in the tournament, but the club had no funding and 2,500 fans.