BERLIN (AP) — Steffen Baumgart oversaw his first win as Union Berlin coach as his team ended its 11-game winless run with a 2-1 victory over Mainz in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Goals from Benedict Hollerbach and Robert Skov gave Union its first win since October, and the first at the third attempt since former player Baumgart’s return as coach for the fired Bo Svensson.
Hollerbach got the home team off to a great start when he won the ball from Mainz defender Danny da Costa and fired between the legs of goalkeeper Robin Zentner in the first minute.
The visitors were given a prompt way back when Aljoscha Kemlein was penalized for a robust challenge on Jae-Sung Lee.
Nadiem Amiri wasn’t put off by whistles from the crowd as he equalized from the spot in the fifth. Amiri ran past the Union fans with his finger to his mouth, urging them to be quiet, then performed a short dance, prompting a vulgar chant in response.
There has long been animosity between the player and Union fans going back to when Amiri, who has an Afghan background, was possibly racially abused by Union player Florian Hübner when Amiri was playing for Bayer Leverkusen in 2021.
Hübner was later cleared of racial abuse after Amiri told a federation investigation that he could not rule out that different words might have been used, but the bad feeling remained between fans who rushed to defend their team’s player and an alleged victim of racial abuse who was unable to prove a racial slur had been used.
-Union’s fans quickly forgot about Amiri’s equalizer when Dominik Kohr conceded another penalty for a foul on Hollerbach. Skov duly fired the home team back in front from the spot in the 24th.
It proved to be the winner with Mainz only mounting a threat in the final minutes.
Werder Bremen was hosting Augsburg later Sunday.
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