OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 27 | Europe’s Top Marksman

Some bizarre league form had seen Union Berlin competing towards the top of Bundesliga with a perfect home record and atrocious away record. But a first taste of European football had seen them breeze through an easy set of Europa Conference League league phase matches.

January saw disappointing news as winger Jakub Silny joined Barcelona for £25.5m on deadline day after centre-back Ali Salameh moved to Wolfsburg for £850k. Prusseit had taken the plunge and increased Union’s scouting range to worldwide after the summer transfer window. The first results of that increased capacity were promising Algerian left-back Ali Anani for £2.5m from MC Alger and centre-back Matheus Andrade for £4.6m from Cruzeiro. Prusseit had to move quickly to replace Silny and again turned to Cruzeiro to sign the rapid Lucas for a new club-record £11.5m.

Breaking The Away Hoodoo

Union resumed their Bundesliga campaign with a mass of games in hand thanks to some odd scheduling. And they kicked off 2035 with two home games in four days. First up, Hamburg bossed the first half but couldn’t find the breakthrough and Union took advantage after the break with goals by top scorer Michael Storskov, Silny and Samadeh. Then two goals in four minutes by Storskov and right-back Mathias Nilsson Morsing edged a tight game against Hoffenheim in their favour. Storskov won a penalty that midfielder Gerhard Seibert converted then went on to wrap up a 20-minute hat-trick to seal a superb 5-0 thumping that took Union to an incredible nine wins out of nine at home!

But could Union reverse their away fortunes? Three opportunities to do that were up next, starting with a tricky trip to 6th-place Leverkusen. Union played well, limiting Leverkusen to minimal chances and nicking a lead through winger Kevin Starke, only for Salameh to throw away two points with a 72nd-minute own goal on his final appearance.

That was a step in the right direction ahead of a trip to bottom-of-the-league Werder Bremen, where they finally snapped the away hoodoo as midfielder Grga Picak’s 85th-minute strike nicked a 1-0 win. And Union made it two away wins on the bounce by dominating 17th-place Fortuna Düsseldorf as Picak’s early screamer and two Storskov tap-ins earned a 3-1 victory.

Bizarre Bundesliga Scheduling

That strong start to the year saw Union shoot all the way up to 5th in Bundesliga. But the string of good away results ended with a 2-1 loss at Stuttgart, which was part of a five-game away streak that ended with a 1-0 loss at Leipzig. And a third straight defeat followed 1-0 at home to Dortmund, which ended Union’s perfect home form.

However, that was the first in a run of four straight home games! And that helped them get back on track with three successive 1-0 wins over Köln, 5th-place Freiburg and Nürnberg, in which Storskov scored his 30th goal of the campaign. He went on to bag a brilliant hat-trick in a 4-1 hammering of Hoffenheim away, which saw him break Ahmed Ramadan’s club record of 31 goals in 2031/32. And that moved Union back up to 5th heading into the final eight games.

That began with another three-game away streak, which began with a 1-1 at St. Pauli. Prusseit’s 500th game in management came in a trip to Gladbach and another Storskov goal earned another 1-1 draw before an impressive defensive effort earned a 0-0 at 2nd-place Wolfsburg.

But back on home ground they excelled as Storskov scored his second hat-trick in five league games and his 11th goal in the last 10 games to defeat Werder Bremen 4-1. That teed up a thrilling four-way battle for the final European places with Union in 5th two points clear of Leverkusen in 8th. However, Union’s run-in was very tough.

Union began the run-in at Frankfurt and a solid defensive effort earned a 0-0, which dropped them 7th as Freiburg and Stuttgart both won. Next up was Bayern at home and Lukas and Storskov goals had them 2-0 up after 18 minutes, but a disappointing collapse saw Bayern come back to win 3-2. However, they responded in style by thumping city rivals Hertha 4-0 with goals from Seibert, holding midfielder Abdelkarim Belkacem, Storskov and Picak.

Union went into the final day in 7th in an OstDeutscher clash at home to Leipzig. Union had the better of the game but both teams missed chances and drew 0-0. Elsewhere, Leverkusen beat Freiburg, which saw Union hold on to finish in 7th place and qualify for the Europa Conference League for the second successive season. And that again bagged them £62m in prize money. They ended the season with 14 home wins but just three away from home.

Union had the Bundesliga’s top scorer as Storskov scored 28 in 32. However, not only was he the top scorer in Germany but also across Europe, as the Dane won the European Golden Shoe! Storskov also came third in German Players’ Player of the Year, while Belkacem won Bundesliga Signing of the Season and came second in Newcomer of the Year and Prusseit defended his Manager of the Year award.

Europa Conference League Knockouts

Union progressed straight to the last 16 of the Europa Conference League, where they were drawn with Swiss side Sion. And the big teams to look out for include Benfica, Everton and Real Betis.

Union got the perfect start in Switzerland as Lucas scored his first goal for the club in a dominant 3-0 win. So Prusseit rotated for the home leg and exciting young striker Leandro scored both in a 2-0 victory. That sent them into the quarter-final, where they annoyingly drew Everton. A poor first leg saw the English side nick a 1-0 victory in Berlin before they deservedly won the return leg 3-2.

Reflecting On Another Successful Season

Prusseit was delighted with the progress his young team had made this season, again finishing 7th despite the distraction of playing European football alongside their league campaign.

This season’s star man was undoubtedly Storskov, who scored a new club record 41 goals plus six assists with a 7.45 average rating in 48 games. Also impressive were Seibert with 11 goals and 12 assists, Picak with nine goals and 10 assists and Starke with two goals and nine assists. A special mention has to go to goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who equalled the club record of 22 clean sheets and only conceded 39 goals in 47 games, but will be leaving in the summer after agreeing a move back to Denmark.

Union’s efforts this season were impressive given half the squad were 21 or under and had potential of at least 4.5-stars. And a sign of that potential was having six players in NxGn 2035 led by winger Starke coming 2nd, as well as a future agreed signing and a few more players Prusseit had been chasing as summer recuits.