It’s a good thing that Urs Fischer wasn’t around at the moment. A critical look from his coach would have been the least that Josip Juranovic should have expected. The Croatian only said what should be a matter of course for a third-placed player in the Bundesliga six games before the end of the season. “I think every footballer wants to play in the Champions League. Yes, of course that’s my main goal,” said the 1. FC Union Berlin full-back.
With his beautiful free-kick goal in the ultimately unsatisfactory 1-1 draw against VfL Bochum, Juranovic had made his contribution to the fact that the Irons’ entry into the premier class for the first time is still realistic. However, the Union doctrine remains with the vaguely formulated goal of wanting to achieve international competition, no matter which one.
Understatement is out of the question
When asked about this caution from Köpenick, Juranovic looked a little disbelieving, as if word of the official terminology had not yet gotten around to him. No, understatement is out of the question for the World Cup third. “Unfortunately we lost two points, we wanted three because we’re fighting for the Champions League. We can’t give points like that,” said the 27-year-old.
Third in the table with 52 points, FC Bayern Munich (59 points) and Borussia Dortmund (57) are now probably out of reach. RB Leipzig (51) and SC Freiburg (50) push in from behind. It’s tight. But high goals must be for Juranovic. After all, he has just played in the Champions League, albeit not very successfully with Celtic Glasgow, against Real Madrid and RB Leipzig, among others.
Since his arrival in Berlin at the beginning of the year, Juranovic has shown that he can increase the quality of the Union again. With his relaxed manner, he is well received, chatting on the boulevard about what he misses most in the capital. His girlfriend, of course, who is still in Croatia – and a little more sunshine. Even in Glasgow it appeared more frequently than in Berlin.
The game against Bochum wasn’t top class football
Fischer’s good reasons for general caution in publicly debating what is sportingly possible were uncomfortably confirmed against Bochum. It didn’t look like premier football by a long shot, which the Irons showed against a district club that played appropriately for their own 15th place in the table. “We have to check that off now,” said Juranovic and freed the interview space in the stadium catacombs for Robin Knoche.
The head of defense at Unioner has also played in the Champions League before, many years ago for VfL Wolfsburg. When asked about the ambitions at the end of the season and Juranovic’s verbal advance, he stuck to the Fischer style: “We’ve never thrown out big slogans, and we won’t do that in the future either,” said Knoche.
