Match Report: Short-handed Union do themselves proud against Leverkusen

For the two of you who read these posts regularly, this will be familiar – but my what a day this was for football.

Perfect sunshine, 25 degrees, faint hint of dread in the mind that it’s this weather in April, a chance to see one of the finest times in Europe. Magnificent.

That team welcomed Leverkusen to the Alte Försterei, who by all accounts are having a fine season themselves.

But sure, they’ve gone 100,000 games unbeaten, but could they do it on a frighteningly perfect afternoon in Köpenick?

As it transpires, yes, but it was by no means plain sailing for Xabi Alonso’s side against a resilient, determined Union who did us all proud.

The Union Berlin International crew pitched up into one of the sunnier parts of Sektor 3, many of us thankful for sunglasses and rueing the lack of suncream as the teams warmed up.

The ground filled up quickly and there was a hum in the air that said this was going to be a good game.

Nenad Bjelica persisted with a familiar team including the dynamic duo of Vertessen and Aaronson up front. The main change was in the outfit of the coach himself, swapping his usual black tracksuit and heavy coats for a sharp blazer and chinos combo.

Union Berlin played in their away shirt for reasons related to our all-powerful shirt sponsor, sporting a Star Trek logo. Needless to say, the Waldseite were less than impressed with this move, using the choreo to lay into the idea midway through the half.

We’ve already got superheroes, and they play in red.

To the game though – which never looked like a mid table team against league leaders.

Leverkusen started brightly, pinging neat little triangles, but Union looked comfortable enough sitting compact and pressing hard in our own half.

A long ball over the top caught Leite out but the Leverkusen number 9 scuffed it wide.

For all their silk, Leverkusen were a physical side and Vertessen was on the rough end of it from Jonathan Tah, roundly booed every time he touched the ball.

The game had a decided edge to it, some what we could call in England ‘handbags’ flaring up from time to time as the players took exception to each other.

Union weren’t venturing forward too much, and a couple of passes went straight into touch as we struggled for rhythm.

We looked a little panicky but harried and pressed really well, battling for every ball. Given how Leverkusen have played this year I expected a lot of last ditch defending, but Union were aggressive and defending from the front rather than hanging on.

Suddenly, some space opened up and Wirtz was nearly through for the visitors, Gosens sending him sprawling on the edge of the box and picking up a booking.

There was a collective sense of ‘oh shit’ at this point, but superhero-supreme Rønnow leapt to his right to push the goalbound free kick away.

He was in action again five minutes later to jackknife a thumping header over the bar. Calmest person on the pitch, as ever.

Union weren’t getting the rub of the green from the referee, to put it kindly. Gosens and Tousart had both picked up bookings rather harshly for their first fouls, while Vertessen was getting kicked up in the air and got nothing.

With our front man getting flattened repeatedly, we didn’t have much of an outlet going forward.

Most of our good play in the first half went down the left, Schäfer and Gosens combining but the ball not quite dropping in the middle.

Leverkusen had a couple more chances, one for Tella which we all thought was in, flashing wide of the post.

Aaronson was doing a great job defensively, he was on both sides of the pitch, harrying and tackling and then racing away upfield with the ball under pressure. I thought he had a great game, and what a turnaround in his fortunes this season.

As the half wore on, Union had a couple of good chances, Leverkusen running out of ideas and the home side cable to get a foot on the ball and play a bit.

Trimmel robbed Grimaldo and got his whole 37 years motoring into wide open space down the right, hair glistening in the sun. His ball into the centre eventually led to a corner, which Gosens met with one of his prodigious leaps, the ball fizzing agonisingly into the side netting.

With us pushing forward more, there was always the threat of a Leverkusen counter, but the players were tracking and chasing incredibly. Khedira sprinted back some 40 yards to slide in and win the ball back, stopping a counter attack in its tracks, to big cheers from us in the stands.

Shortly after, the best chance of the half. Another nice, patient overlapping move down the left saw Gosens (I think) square it to Vertessen in the middle of the box. Yorbe spun and hit it well, but he was always leaning back and it cannoned over the bar.

Vertessen was soon down injured and had to come off as the first half ticked into injury time, at which point things took a drastic turn.

Leverkusen found space on the right and Gosens tried to stop it with a pretty gung ho tackle for a man on a yellow card. The winger went flying, the referee blew and we all knew what was coming.

Red card for Gosens. We must be league leaders in sendings off!

From the free kick, pure chaos in the box. I think Rønnow made a save in there somewhere. The ball bounced off at least one post. Somebody poked it in but the flag was up for offside.

We thought it was a reprieve, but Leverkusen were screaming for handball and the ref eventually gave it via VAR, Khedira amping up the crowd to show our frustration. I feared a second red card but a penalty was bad enough.

Wirtz duly dispatched the spot kick and the half time whistle blew, a crazy end to an enthralling first half.

We were all a bit deflated at the start of the second half.

Down a man against the league leaders is not an ideal position, and it could have turned into a rout. But this Union team is made of strong stuff, and boy did they show it.

Kaufmann had come on for Vertessen but found equally shirt shrift from the Leverkusen defence.

The visitors had a lot of the ball, but Union continued to defend with heart and skill, repelling everything and defending the box heroically.

Leite had moved to the wing back position and he was surprisingly comfortable there, his size and agility causing the defence some headaches.

Far from being under pressure, we started to grow into the half, three corners in a row building some pressure.

At the other end, Rønnow made a fine save from Adli who got through the defence, but Leverkusen really weren’t carrying too much threat.

Bjelica made some changes, Laïdouni, Juranovic and Král.

We suddenly started to find space on the right, Juranovic adding a bit of pace and Král doing his thing and causing trouble and chaos in midfield. A couple of deep crosses towards Kaufmann, one inches from his head, but not to be.

With about 10 minutes to go, Hollerbach came on for Aaronson, who had really run himself into the ground.

Hollerbach must be a pain to play against, he’s so busy, quick and determined. In his flashy green boots he was immediately amongst it and Leverkusen looked suddenly nervous.

We got down the right again on the counter, and Juranovic swung in a cross towards a rampaging – and I had to blink to check I wasn’t seeing things – Kevin Vogt. No idea what he was doing up there but we all applauded it.

The stadium was in peak voice again, all of us finding a second wind after singing our hearts out all afternoon.

Hollerbach did brilliantly to battle and pickpocket the full back in the corner, getting a cross in. He also got fouled on the right, but not for the first time the referee thought otherwise.

The Alte Försterei was roaring the team on into stoppage time, sensing an equaliser.

A corner right at the end had Freddie trotting up and all of us praying. A goal would have lifted the roof off the place.

I think he even got his head to it, but eventually a Leverkusen player collapsed in a heap, the referee blew, and that was that.

Most of our players collapsed on the turf, they ran their socks off today.

Leverkusen left with the points and they are a fantastic team.

But Union left with the cheers of 20,000 ringing in their ears. It was a spectacular effort and I think they were worth a draw at least. Without the 5 minutes of stoppage time madness in the first half, who knows.

But still. A great game, a fantastic performance in the unseasonable sun.

No better way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Bring on Bayern next.

Eisern!