4:1 at the start against Mainz 05 – Union wins convincingly, Behrens towers over
imago images/Matthias Koch
Audio: rbb24 Inforadio | 08/20/2023 | Tabea Kunze | Image: imago images/Matthias Koch
1. FC Union started the 61st Bundesliga season with a win. Against Mainz 05, Urs Fischer’s team was up to speed straight away.
Union scores the fastest Bundesliga goal in club history Kevin Behrens with the first hat-trick of his Bundesliga career Robin Gosens and Kevin Volland initially only on the bench Ludovic Ajorque from Mainz is the first Bundesliga player to miss two penalties in one game
1. FC Union starts the new season as it ended the old one — on a Champions League spot. While the prominent new signings Robin Gosens and Kevin Volland initially had to sit on the bench on Sunday, in the sovereign 4-1 (2-0) win over Mainz 05, Kevin Behrens, who felt like he has always been with the club, came to the fore in the foreground.
Behrens everywhere
Anyone wondering how Union Berlin would start this season got the answer pretty quickly: with the fastest Bundesliga goal in the club’s history. Just 52 seconds were played, as a midfielder and newcomer Brendan Aaronson left-back Jerome Roussillon’s run with his heel and he crossed the ball to center-forward Kevin Behrens’ head with pinpoint accuracy. Union number 17 then had little trouble heading the ball into the goal for Berlin’s lead. Eight minutes later it was Behrens again who made it 2-0 with his first Bundesliga brace. Strike partner David Fofona had absented himself on the right wing, where he first skilfully secured the ball and then handed it over to midfielder Aissa Laidouni, who came to the rescue.
The Tunisian international’s cross also earned the title “perfect fit”, as did Kevin Behrens’ header. With the lead behind them, Union had the game completely under control without creating any further significant chances. Mainz only came close to the Berlin penalty area around the 30-minute mark. However, the Rheinhessen did not develop a clear chance to score. Instead, the very convincing Fofana showed how complete his repertoire already is. However, the Ivorian’s fantastically shot free-kick from around 25 meters only went to the crossbar. In the second minute of stoppage time, it was central defender Diogo Leite who had moved up and attacked from a distance with his weaker right foot, forcing Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner to make a brilliant save.
Dream goal as a connection hit
The second half took a little to get going. So it went in quick succession. First, Union goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow saved a penalty from Ludovique Ajorque in the 62nd minute after Diogo Leite brought down Brajan Gruda, who had just come on as a substitute, in the penalty area. Two minutes later, Mainz still scored the 1-2 goal. Union captain Christopher Trimmel was only able to clear a cross from the right at Anthony Caci’s feet. The Frenchman accepted the template in a tippkick manner and converted a fantastic and untenable for Rönnow by direct acceptance. Union shook himself briefly, Urs Fischer changed, brought Sheraldo Becker, among others. Union’s top scorer of the past season found himself well immediately, crossed in the 70th minute from the right side, of course, to Kevin Behrens, who headed again to make it 3-1.
As a result, the game more or less rippled out. Only a crossbar header from Ajorque (72′) caused further excitement, before the Frenchman went back to the penalty spot in the 88th minute after a handball by Robin Knoche and again failed with a kind of better return to Rönnow. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, substitute Milos Pantovic made it 4-1 after a counterattack and just ahead of goalkeeper Zentner.
The reactions to the game
Kevin Behrens (Union Berlin): “We wanted to offer our spectators something, we got on really well. (…) The balls came out brilliantly and luckily I put them in. (…)”
Frederik Rönnow (Union Berlin): “We have a lot of new people. I think the quality is good. We showed that on the pitch today. We have a clear plan. We have to be disgusting and tireless. That’s our face .”
Urs Fischer (Union Berlin): “Great goals. Kevin was where he needed to be. Very present in the box, he attacked the balls. You can see he wanted to score these goals. But there is still a lot to do . We played too much under pressure, gave away easy balls, didn’t play cleverly.”
Robin Zentner (Mainz 05): “We would have liked to have taken something from here, we wanted to win the game. And then going 2-0 down in such a short space of time is pretty much the worst start you can imagine. Man just have to be awake from the first second. We know what to expect. Union haven’t been playing like that since yesterday. It wasn’t a good performance from us, especially in the first half.”
The voices in the audio
Broadcast: rbbUM6, 6 p.m., 08/20/2023
2023-08-20 22:45:38
#Union #wins #convincingly #Behrens #towers
