In the place where most of German football’s recent fairytales were made, another story continued. However, Union Berlin’s role in the latest edition of the Bundesliga storybook has changed. The newcomers doing things their own way have not only had to get used to Champions League nights and signing international players, but also far too often to the kind of nosebleeds they dished out in the not-too-distant past. .
The German football team that will be watching this season and you still won’t believe it is Heidenheim, although even they had to bow to Köpenick’s staying power after what was a “very, very intense” match. Saturday afternoon as described by their captain Patrick Mainka. “This stadium is crazy,” he said about the Alten Försterei. “Everything is against you.” In addition, his team conceded two goals in double-quick time at the end of the first half, turning Nikola Dovedan’s early lead into a halftime deficit. “We just shook ourselves,” Mainka continued, “and said to ourselves, let’s turn this around.”
Related: European roundup: Harry Kane hits injury-time winner for Bayern Munich
They did so and with the greatest touch of class of the afternoon, provided – as so often this season – by the left foot of Jan-Niklas Beste, who converted Eren Dinkçi’s hopeful kick into an equalizer, deftly passing the ball over the advancing Frederik lifted. Rønnow to send the visitors home with a point. The 25-year-old Beste, dumped by Borussia Dortmund (with whom he played for ten years in the youth academy) and then Werder Bremen without appearing in the Bundesliga, has waited a long time to show the top what he can do. He makes the most of his late opportunity in the elite; this was his seventh league goal of the season, in addition to eight assists.
The star, however, remains Frank Schmidt, the on-site coach since 2007, who presided over the entire miracle. Charismatic and – like Jürgen Klopp – first known as a personality before football success through his role in the film Trainer! from 2013, about the life of a coach. Saturday’s match in the capital was his 611th in charge.
After four promotions and a few near misses, every moment is still worth savoring, even after taking points from Borussia Dortmund twice this season and remaining unbeaten since December. “We are a promoted team,” reflected Schmidt as he almost pinched himself after the match, “we are 2-1 behind, Union has won the last four home games. But we did not give in.”
If number 611 was reasonably dramatic, it was nothing compared to the most recent highlight, the last day of last season at Jahn Regensburg, where stoppage time included a penalty scored by Beste and an even later winner from their centre-forward Tim Kleindienst . , making third place not only automatic promotion, but also the title of the 2.Bundesliga. Their sensations can now be enjoyed in relative peace. The team with the smallest budget in the division are ninth, 14 points ahead of the last automatic relegation spot and 12 points better off than Köln, who currently occupy the relegation play-off spot.
Schmidt became the longest-serving coach in German football history on the day his team recorded their first top-flight victory, a 4-2 victory over Werder Bremen in September, and some players have been part of that journey. Central defender Mainka played his 200th game for the club on Saturday, while midfielder Jan Schöppner, who joined from the then regional league Verl in 2020, reached a century of competitive appearances.
Heidenheim simply has something that money can’t buy: a heart, a team ethic and a brilliant coach, plus some very special players who have found their way to the Brenz Valley. Another important point on the road to safety. Thanks for joining us if you did so on the world feed.
— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) February 24, 2024
Beste and Lennard Maloney – the club’s first full international with the US – had to leave the field due to an injury, which Schmidt hopes will not keep them out for too long. Part of this miracle is that if they are absent, Heidenheim has enough in the bench to weather the storm. They deserve to play with their house money in the coming months.
Augsburg 2-1 Freiburg, Dortmund 2-3 Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2 Wolfsburg, Bayern 2-1 RB Leipzig, Mönchengladbach 5-2 VfL Bochum, Stuttgart 1-1 Cologne, Union Berlin 2-2 Heidenheim, Werder Bremen 1- 1 Darmstadt, Leverkusen 2-1 Mainz.
Discussion points
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More records abound for the remarkable Bayer Leverkusen, who won 2-1 against Mainz on Friday evening (although they needed a poor handling error from Robin Zentner for Robert Andrich’s winner) and now hold a 33-match unbeaten run, with which he surpasses the limit of 32. Xabi Alonso, set by Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich between 2019 and 2020. “I don’t care about records until they are set,” said Xabi Alonso, “but now that it has happened, I am very proud.” He might have been a little relieved too; not only with the surprisingly narrow victory, but after a hit at home plate, opener Granit
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The next step for the leaders is Cologne, in what promises to be an atmospheric derby. The struggling home side will have two glimmers of hope. Firstly, that their opening win of the season came in another derby, at the same venue, against Borussia Mönchengladbach in October, and secondly, their spirited performance in taking a point from high-flying Stuttgart, despite having to come from behind. Timo Schultz’s side once again proved the “Kryptonite” of the prolific Serhou Guirassy, as Kicker’s George Moissidis put it – the Guinean striker has never scored against Effzeh since leaving them in 2019 and missing a few chances – but on their points total already makes it look like the relegation play-off place they currently occupy is their best hope.
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The heart rate at Bayern is not yet in danger of dropping, despite some possible rest given the midweek announcement of Thomas Tuchel’s departure at the end of the season. The team’s first match since then was a big one and their most cohesive performance for a while, despite it taking an injury-time winner from Harry Kane to seal victory over RB Leipzig. Kane’s 27th in a remarkable Bundesliga debut season, a clever left-foot shot on the turn, could be one of his most important. Without that, Bayern would have been ten points behind and even with their and Leverkusen’s historic reputation beforehand, the title race would have been a dead end. CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen, who branded speculation that Tuchel’s immediate departure was discussed as “nonsense” in an interview with Bild, is walking a fine line as he tries to establish his own regime, potentially distancing himself from a culture of far-reaching statements. “This team is not uncoachable,” chairman Herbert Hainer said last week in an attempt to save the players from the media, while Dressen did not deny interest in Alonso as Tuchel’s successor.
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Dortmund are well positioned to take over the crisis baton after their eight-match unbeaten run came to an abrupt end at home against Hoffenheim. Pellegrino Materazzo’s team had not won in eight games. With Jadon Sancho’s fitness and rhythm still a work in progress, BVB recovered from an early goal against Ilhas Bebou and led at half-time, through goals from Donyell Malen and Nico Schlotterbeck, to add two more in three seconds Maximilian Beyer. -half minute. Edin Terzić is under pressure from the fans, with cheers on a full-time basis and Dortmund are only in the top four due to the loss to Leipzig. Anyone suggesting Terzić is short of ideas had plenty of ammunition, with Mats Hummels (who wasn’t good enough to start) brought to the fore late on to try to salvage something. “In the end it was chaos,” admitted Julian Brandt.
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Pos |
Team |
P |
GD |
Ptn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Bayer Leverkusen |
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|
2 |
Bayern Munich |
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|
3 |
Stuttgart |
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4 |
Borussia Dortmund |
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|
5 |
RB Leipzig |
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|
6 |
Eintracht Frankfurt |
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|
7 |
Hoffenheim |
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|
8 |
Werder Bremen |
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|
9 |
Freiburg |
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10 |
Heidenheim |
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|
11 |
Augsburg |
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12 |
Borussia M’gladbach |
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|
13 |
Wolfsburg |
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14 |
Union Berlin |
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15 |
VfL Bochum |
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16 |
Cologne |
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17 |
Mainz |
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18 |
Darmstadt |