Kevin Behrens scores again in Union's Conference League victory
A full cohort of 25,000 Union Berlin supporters packed Charlottenburg's Olympiastadion on Thursday evening for their club's first group stage game in the new UEFA Europa Conference League.
While it took their team a little while to get going, die Eisernen ultimately cruised to a 3-0 victory.
While it took their team a little while to get going, die Eisernen ultimately cruised to a 3-0 victory.
Union head-coach Urs Fischer, with another league match just two days away, rotated heavy with five changes to his XI. Scorer of the game-winning goal against Bielefeld on Saturday got his first Union start. Behrens spearheaded a 5-2-3 working in-between Sheraldo Becker and Andreas Voglsammer. Both Max Kruse and Taiwo Awonyi began the game on the bench.
The German hosts had to work hard to break down visiting Maccabi Haifa's defensive system. Midfielder Kevin Möhwald got off the first real chance in the 29th with a snapping distance effort that stung the palms of American goalkeeper Joshua Cohen. The effort woke Union up a bit and they were able to apply more consistent pressure with cleaner attack builds.
The opening goal came four minutes later. Behrens did some excellent work on an individual duel on the right side of the danger area. The journeyman attacker then served up fellow travelled veteran Voglsammer for the 1-0. The FCU continued to improve on their attack builds and concluded the half as the unquestionably more dominant team.
Three minutes after the restart, Behrens himself got another goal. The 30-year-old top tier rookie came flying into the box to meet a Christopher Trimmel service with a flying header. After going up 2-0 in the 48th, the hosts pulled back a bit for time. Matters picked up a bit after the hour mark. After Becker hit the post in the 69th, the Suriname international did link up with substitute Awoniyi for decisive goal in the 76th.
Having lost to to Slavia Prague two weeks ago, the Köpenickers got a much needed win in their inaugural European cup campaign. The three points prove sufficient to keep them competitive in second place in their group.