With the great relief of Naples, the professionals from 1. FC Union boarded the plane towards home. It will quickly become clear how lasting the Berliners’ frustration with results really is. Just four days after the end of the stressful series of defeats with the 1-1 draw with the Italian football champions on Wednesday evening, coach Urs Fischer’s team has to play against the unbeaten Bundesliga leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Losing streak broken
“At least one series has been canceled,” said Fischer at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Now they would have to see how long they would have to work to finish the next one. Since the victories on the first two matchdays, the Iron Men haven’t even picked up a point in the Bundesliga and have slipped to 16th place in the table. “I know football well enough. We have to work really hard now,” emphasized Christopher Trimmel, with a view to the possible turning point of the season with the draw against Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli.
Because despite all the solidarity and all the assurances: A dozen bankruptcies one after the other left their mark on the Unioners, who continued to rise even after their promotion in 2019. “Yes, what can I say: Finally!”, Fischer commented on the draw. “If you lose twelve times in a row, you simply don’t have the ease, you don’t have the necessary self-confidence,” said the 57-year-old Swiss: Mentally, the result in Naples could have a lot of impact.
How much will quickly become apparent. “We can’t be satisfied now,” emphasized Union’s Italian defensive star Leonardo Bonucci. The game at Bayer was an important building block, said the 36-year-old European champion. It is clear that a point or even a win would act as an accelerator to return to the old iron strength that led the Berlin team first into the Conference, then into Europe and finally even into the Champions League.
Morale after the restart
In Naples it was also possible to see the internal effect that David Fofana’s equalizer had after the break, after the guests from the capital had fallen behind before the break. “We suffered, but that was a good start and an important point for morale,” confirmed national team Robin Gosens, who, like Bonucci and Kevin Volland, moved to Köpenick before this season.
With participation in the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history, the demands placed on the team also increased, and the club, which was keen to maintain its tough-guy image, also became more attractive to internationally known players. With the two league wins at the start of the season, everything went as hoped, but then the collapse came quickly and violently and somehow a bit inexplicably.
Preliminary round exit
The fact that the Unioners no longer have a chance of reaching the knockout round in the premier class before the final two games in Group C away against SC Braga and at home against Real Madrid did not play a significant role on the evening of relief, third place and so the Europa League is still there. “Perhaps this point can still be very important in the final accounting,” said Fischer.
