Best performance of the season: Union beats Dortmund 2-1

Thanks to probably the strongest performance of the season so far, Union Berlin deservedly won 2-1 against BVB. The Köpenickers played courageously forward, hardly allowed anything to happen at the back against unimaginative Dortmund and withstood a final offensive.

• Union remains unbeaten in the third home game of the season at the An der Alten Försterei stadium
• With 1.57 xGoals they were more dangerous than BVB (0.95)
• Defense chief Kevin Vogt took a penalty for the first time in the 341st Bundesliga game of his career and converted it confidently
• For Union coach Bo Svensson it was the first win against Dortmund in his coaching career
• The Köpenickers are the only Bundesliga team not to have conceded a single goal in the first half this season

On the 6th matchday of the Bundesliga, 1. FC Union Berlin celebrated a home win. Thanks to a strong performance, the Köpenick team beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 (2-0) and moved past them in the table. The goals were scored by Kevin Vogt (26th) and Yorbe Vertessen (45th). Julian Ryerson scored for BVB (62nd).

The 22,012 spectators in the An der Alten Försterei stadium, which was sold out as usual, saw a game at eye level in the early stages, in which the home team played happily against the Champions League participants. Instead of putting themselves at the back, they pressed high, dared to make offensive advances and had the better chances. The guests, who had celebrated the biggest Champions League victory in the club’s history with a 7-1 win against Celtic Glasgow during the week, were surprisingly lacking in ideas.

Only after a good 20 minutes did Union become a little more passive and let themselves be pushed back a little, but without losing concentration. The well-organized Köpenick defense hardly showed any gaps, confidently defended Dortmund’s attacks and quickly initiated the transition game.

This was also the case in the 24th minute, when they intercepted a pass from Maximilian Beier and brought the ball directly to Benedict Hollerbach on the left wing. He broke into the penalty area and dribbled past BVB defender Nico Schlotterbeck, who, however, left his leg and caused the attacker to fall. Referee Tobias Reichel awarded a penalty, which Union defense chief Vogt dryly and precisely put into the right corner to make it 1-0 (26′).

The lead reignited the fire from the early stages. Union now pressed deep into the opponent’s half again and took the ball away from the guests in the build-up game. Dortmund hardly had any offensive activity at all, while the Köpenickers were able to further extend their lead before the break. From a poorly cleared corner, the ball landed in the backcourt at Vertessen, whose low shot hit the left corner past everyone (45′).

Nothing changed in the iron team’s courageous appearance even after the break. The pressing continued to work well and provoked many ball losses by the guests, who in turn continued to struggle against the strong defense.

However, the more Dortmund came under pressure as the game progressed, the more they increased the pressure and waited for a mistake. And they actually took advantage of Berlin’s first real positional error to score the next goal. Julian Brandt got the ball centrally in front of the penalty area and played it to the left to the former Union player Julian Ryerson. He was completely free, was able to run a few meters and then converted it precisely into the bottom right corner (62′).

A wake-up call for the guests, who then had much more of the game and threw everything forward again in the last quarter of an hour in order to equalize. Again and again they managed to combine through the Berlin defense, which was slowly starting to show signs of exhaustion. And yet the Köpenick team managed to relieve the pressure again and again with counterattacks, withstand the pressure and ultimately get the win over time.

Bo Svensson (1. FC Union Berlin): “I’m very happy with my team’s performance. What they did today: going out like that after conceding a last-minute goal in Gladbach and being so courageous and aggressive. To be a team like that. That makes me really happy.”

Kevin Vogt (1. FC Union Berlin): “We were exactly the opponent we wanted to be for the other teams. We were very present in the duels, we applied pressure. That’s why we defended high and stood 1 against 1 on the halfway line. And when the strikers did it so well If you do that, then it won’t be a problem.”

Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund): “In the first half they came at us very high and aggressively. We had our problems with that. They had very good chances and we had very few. They really got into the game with the penalty.”

Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, October 5, 2024, 3:30 p.m