Union Berlin played with complete confidence for 90 minutes at VfB Stuttgart. But in injury time, the Eisernen let three points they thought were safe slip out of their hands. The Swabians secured a flattering 1-1 draw when they were outnumbered.
VfB coach Pellegrino Matarazzo made one change to his starting eleven compared to the 1-1 draw in Gladbach. Al Ghaddioui started instead of Marmoush (blow to the syndesmosis), who was missing due to injury.
Union Berlin’s coach Urs Fischer will rely on three new players after the 1:3 defeat at Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Europa Conference League. Haraguchi, Gießelmann and Becker were on the pitch from the start in place of Möhwald, Puchacz and Kruse.
Union: Always dangerous with pace
Stuttgart obviously had their sights set on something and started stormily. But because they were up against a stable backline from Berlin, no chances resulted from the initial offensive. Whenever Union made the game quick after winning the ball, things got dicey – for the first time after a quarter of an hour, but a sharp cross from Becker did not reach Trimmel at the far post (15th). In the 31st minute they did it better: After Khedira had won the ball against Endo, they went forward with speed against the retreating hosts. The ball found its way via Becker to Awoniyi, who converted the counterattack from the edge of the penalty area into the right-hand corner.
Always involved: Awoniyi
The Stuttgart team’s shock was limited – quite the opposite. The Swabians created the two best chances shortly after falling behind. First, Endo tested Luthe from 25 metres with a fine diving save (33rd), then Kempf headed the subsequent corner just wide of the goal. Apart from that, however, Union were very solid in defence and made a thoroughly confident impression, which justified the lead at the break. If the well-positioned Awoniyi had not shot just wide of the goal after 38 minutes, the score could even have been 2-0. Again, a quick counter-attack via Haraguchi had gone ahead.
Yellow-red within 35 seconds
After the break, Union continued to take a calm and incredibly relaxed approach. VfB made too many misplaced passes and technically unsound actions to seriously build up pressure. The hosts then made life even more difficult for themselves with a very unnecessary sending-off. Only 35 seconds after Karazor had seen the first yellow card, he rushed into Khedira in an uncontrolled manner and with completely wrong timing: yellow-red (57.).
Faghir turns the game on its head
There were as good as more chances to score in the last half hour. Union didn’t have to, Stuttgart couldn’t. Defensively compact, the visitors continued to keep any Stuttgart attempts away from their own goal – until the final minute. First, Didavi pushed his way through the hustle and bustle, then Faghir shot from 14 metres. The ex-Stuttgart Baumgartl deflected the ball and Luthe could only look behind. Stuttgart had equalised (90.+3). It had not been in the cards at any point, but the Köpenicker gave away the three points they thought were safe. Fischer’s eleven must reproach themselves for not having been more determined to score the second goal, despite having a clear superiority in the game.
After three wins in a row, the Berliners’ streak has come to an end. A three-goal win would have set a new club record, but they failed to do so, just like the leap to fourth place in the table.
Stuttgart’s next match is a DFB Cup home game against Cologne on Wednesday (8.45 pm), while Union play third division side Waldhof Mannheim on the same evening (6.30 pm).
