Friday night, singing in the stands and win for the poor against the rich. Sometimes football gives you hope that everything can be right in the world, doesn’t it? Union Berlin climbed into Bundesliga fourth place with a 2-1 win over RB Leipzig, the club that is widely resented in Germany as a “commercial”, “plastic” and “fake” club that represents everything that’s wrong with modern football.War of the worlds in Bundesliga: Fan-built Union and corporate wet dream RB Leipzig clash in East BerlinLeipzig were without their Covid-affected American coach Jesse Marsch so the team was led by one of his assistants Marco Kurth, who’s had a difficult task to outsmart his counterpart Urs Fischer.
Union got off to a perfect start as Taiwo Awoniyi headed past Frederik Roennow from close range following a corner, but were quickly pegged back with a really poor goal. Christopher Nkunku is setting the world alight with his performances for the Red Bulls this season, but the goal he scored 13 minutes into this match wasn’t exactly memorable. He pulled the trigger from a long way out and it should have saved with some ease, but Union experienced ‘keeper Andreas Luthe inexplicably let it slip through his hands and into the net.
The home players knew that engaging in a run-and-shoot contest with Leipzig would likely end in tears so they wisely did everything they could to lower the tempo of the game and work their way to chances patiently. Their cautious approach resulted in a slower match as snow fell ever so harder in East Berlin.
Union showed lethal touch when former German international Max Kruse’s shot was blocked but Timo Baumgartl was at the right place at the right time to poke the ball into the net and restore the lead against the shaky-looking visitors.The Red Bulls looked sluggish after conceding that second goal, but they still rallied to find what would have been a late equalizer and attacked with all their forces. Some heroic defending from the home team, including a spectacular block from Niko Giesselman to deny Brian Brobbey, gave the home faithful a win that will be celebrated for a long time.BUNDESLIGA – ROUND 14FridayUnion Berlin – RB Leipzig 2-1 (1-1)/Awoniyi 6, Baumgartl 57 – Nkunku 13/Saturday17:30: (3.35) Bielefeld (3.40) Koln (2.30)17:30: (2.45) Augsburg (3.20) Bochum (3.25)17:30: (2.70) Mainz (3.15) Wolfsburg (2.90)17:30: (2.00) Hoffenheim (3.60) Eintr.Frankfurt (4.00)17:30: (1.23) Leverkusen (7.25) Greuther Furth (13.0)20:30: (4.10) Dortmund (3.90) Bayern (1.90)Sunday17:30: (2.30) Stuttgart (3.35) Hertha (3.40)19:30: (1.85) M’ gladbach (3.70) Freiburg (4.60)***odds are subject to change***