A mean defence had seen Union Berlin only concede seven goals and keep 13 clean sheets in the first half of their second Bundesliga title defence. And they again enjoyed a decent gap over Bayern München, who spend nearly four times more on wages than their smaller rival.
In fact, despite dishing out several big-money new contracts, Union still only have the eighth biggest wage spend in Bundesliga. While Union spend £59.2m per year, Bayern are spending an outrageous £192m, followed by Leipzig’s £120m, Dortmund’s £77.6m and Leverkusen’s £72.9m. So Union were competing very well given their comparative lack of spending.
Kicking Off The 2040s
Looking ahead, two of Union’s final four games were against Bayern and Leipzig. So Prusseit was keen to hit the ground running and pile on more points against struggling sides in the next few weeks. His side began the 2040s in style by hammering Arminia Bielefeld 5-0 then easing past a poor Dortmund side 2-0 away through winger Bruno Rodríguez and Claudio Sepúlveda’s 20th league goal of the campaign. And Dortmund swiftly sacked Arteta after just six months. A Sepúlveda hat trick and a towering header by 6ft 6in Samuel Pereira downed Werder Bremen 4-1 away before dominating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-0.
Prusseit’s 400th match in charge of Union, which meant he’d now spent more than half his career at the club, saw a trip to another bottom-half side Hamburg. But his side didn’t look up for it as they laboured to a 2-2 rescued by a Sepúlveda double. Later that day, city rivals Hertha did them a favour by holding Bayern to a 2-2.
A tough test followed as they welcomed 3rd place Bayer Leverkusen. Two goals in six minutes by Miroslav Milosevic and Sepúlveda had Union looking good at half-time. But Leverkusen scored twice in four minutes after the break, including a dubious penalty, to undeservedly level. However, young midfielder Oskar Czerwinski came off the bench to bag an 80th-minute winner.
Union dropped points at Wolfsburg before a Sepúlveda double, which took him to 30 league goals for the season, led a 3-1 win at Nürnberg. That came on the same day as Bayern lost 2-1 at home to Leipzig, which had Union looking nailed on for a third title. And they maintained a 13-point lead as another Sepúlveda double led another 3-1 victory at Hoffenheim. Just a second defeat of the season followed, 1-0 at Stuttgart, but the perfect pick-me-up saw them annihilate City rivals Hertha 6-0 away with Leandro Van Dessel and Sepúlveda hat tricks, the latter of which took the Chilean past his own club record of 50 goals in a season.
Champions League Progression
Union resumed the Champions League league phase at home to Prusseit’s former under 19s manager Brandon Peterson, who brought his Napoli side to Berlin. And the master had the last laugh as a Sepúlveda hat trick and Czerwinski’s first goal for the club led a thumping 4-1 win. And they wrapped up with an easy 4-0 win at home to Feyenoord. That saw Union finish 11th and progress to the knockout playoff round, along with Freiburg and Bayern while Leipzig qualified automatically.
They drew Midtjylland in the playoff and took control with a 3-0 away win and a fully rotated side won 3-2 at home. That took them into the round of 16, where they’d lost in the last three seasons. And, for the second successive season, they drew fellow OstDeutscher side RB Leipzig, who were fresh from beating Bayern in the league.
Union dominated the home leg and got their reward as Van Dessel created goals for Rodríguez and Sepúlveda to seal a 2-0 win take to Leipzig. Prusseit took a more balanced approach and Sepúlveda settled any nerves after 15 minutes. Leipzig got one back but the Chilean scored again before a penalty by 37-year-old Ilaix Moriba. But Fossdal’s late tap-in sealed a 3-2 win to book Union’s first-ever Champions League quarter-final.
In the quarters they got probably the worst draw possible as they took on Bayern. The home leg was up first again and Union dominated against a tired Bayern side, with Rodríguez scoring early then second-half strikes from Milosevic and subs José Marco and Markus Ambrosius wrapped up a big 4-1 win. And a relatively entertaining second leg saw a 0-0 draw progress Union into the semi-finals!
Separating Union and a historic final was Juventus while Freiburg, who beat Leverkusen 5-3 in the quarters, took on Real Madrid in the other semi. This time a trip to Turin was first and proved to be an entertaining affair with the two sides sharing 38 shots. Juve went ahead through Miretti only for Milosevic to equalise a minute later before goals two minutes either side of half-time had the hosts 3-1 up. But Milosevic scored again two minutes after Juve’s third and Sepúlved sealed a great comeback for a 3-3 draw.
A week later, the biggest game in Stadion an der Alten Försterei and arguably East German football history saw Juve make the trip to Berlin. The stadium was bizarrely empty bar one open stand, but Union went straight on the attack as Rodríguez ran down the left and crossed for Sepúlveda to power a header home after 29 seconds! He was at it again just before the half hour as he took down a trademark Van Dessel through-ball then smashed it past the keeper. The tie was virtually over just before the hour as some awful defending gifted Van Dessel a third, but they weren’t done there as another superb Van Dessel defence splitter sent Sepúlveda through for his hat-trick on the hour mark. And a brilliant performance sent them to a first-ever Final with a 7-3 aggregate thumping.
Chasing Down Title 3
Union came into the final six games with a 10-point lead over Bayern, which was a little tighter than it sounded considering they still had to play both Bayern and Leipzig. They began the run-in with a Milosevic penalty and Sepúlveda earning a solid 2-0 win over Frankfurt while Bayern drew at Bielefeld. A trip to Freiburg was sandwiched by the Bayern European ties so Prusseit fully rotated and Ambrosius earned an impressive 1-1.
Frresh from knocking Bayern out of Europe, Union immediately hosted them in a potential title decider. Union got a flyer as Van Dessel turned home Milosevic’s low cross and Rodríguez headed home a second inside 16 minutes. A Lee Kwang-Sun howler gifted Bayern a goal back but Van Dessel’s superb through-ball sent Sepúlveda through to restore the two-goal lead after 26 minutes. And it was all over before half-time as Van Dessel again laid on the Chilean’s second in injury time. Bayern got a late consolation but Union won 4-2 to seal another title against Bayern.
Union Berlin won 3 consecutive Bundesligas!!
Lazaró had one eye on the Juventus semis and a fully changed 11 only lost 1-0 at Leipzig. But a Rodríguez double and Sepúlveda’s 39th league goal earned a 3-0 win at home to Gladbach. That took the Chilean just two goals behind Lewandowski’s Bundesliga record 41 goals heading into the final day at home to Schalke. As a result, he was the only first-choice player to start and unbelievably delivered with a hat-trick to thump Schalke 4-1! So he finished the Bundesliga campaign with an outrageous 42 goals in 32 games.
That saw Union win Bundesliga by 11 points from Leipzig, who bumped Bayern into second and that led Bayern to sack yet another manager. Union surpassed the previous two seasons’ points total of 81, this time racking up 83, scored more goals with 93, and matched last season’s 22 goals conceded.
Sepúlveda obviously led the way with a new record 42 goals plus a 7.92 average rating and 11 player of the match awards. Milosevic topped the assists chart with 16 followed by Van Dessel’s 10, while Van Dessel pipped Milosevic to second in the average ratings with 7.62 to 7.60. And Lee led the clean sheets with 18.
East Germany’s Maiden Champions League Final
Union’s opponent in their and East Germany’s first-ever Champions League Final was, unsurprisingly, 15-times winners Real Madrid, who beat Freiburg 6-0 on aggregate. But Berlin didn’t have too far to travel as the game took place at Bayern’s Fußball Arena München. In their two previous meetings with Madrid, now managed by Aliou Cissé, Union had lost 3-0 and 4-2. Despite that, fans and pundits gave them a 34% chance of winning compared to favourites Madrid at 38%.
Prusseit had no significant injury concerns, so he lined up:
Lee; Serrao, Belkacem, Borborema, Poulos; Iida, José Marco; Milosevic, Van Dessel, Rodríguez; Sepúlveda
Subs: Ambrosius, Reitz, Pereira, Luduena, Júnior, Fossdal, Anani, Madzar, Ayan, Johnston
Real went close early on, smashing a free-kick narrowly over the bar after 90 seconds, and Abdelkarim Belkacem headed just over a minute later. Union then had Rogério Poulos to thank for a superb goalline clearance as Real began to take control, but Union nearly nicked the lead through a defensive howler but the Madrid keeper just clawed an errant backpass off the line. And they went in at 0-0 after an entertaining first half.
The second half was much quieter until Real thought they’d scored on 71 minutes only for VAR to rule it out for offside. A few minutes later a stunning Rodríguez pass gave Sepúlveda his first chance but a defender did well to get back and block the shot. And the game drifted to a 0-0. Union had the first chance in extra time as Van Dessel, who was having a rare quiet game, saw a shot well saved. But Real took their only chance of the extra period as Camavinga smashed a superb 30-yarder in off the bottom of the bar. And Union couldn’t respond, so Real won their 16th European Cup.
Reflecting On A Superb Season
Prusseit was delighted with his team’s efforts in dominating Bundesliga and coming so close to becoming champions of Europe. There’s no doubting who the star man was as Sepúlveda hit a magnificent 62 goals in 51 appearances in all competitions, which was only two goals fewer than the club’s next five top scorers, and a 7.79 average rating.
Back in a distant second was Van Dessel with 18 goals and 18 assists, as well as Milosevic with a club-high 21 assists and 10 goals and Rodríguez with 12 goals and 16 assists. Fredrik Fossdal and José Marco also got 12 goals apiece with the latter also getting 13 assists from central midfield.
OstDeutscher Sieg Update
Hansa Rostock came so close to a Bundesliga return, only missing out on promotion to an extra-time defeat to Fortuna Düsseldorf in the playoff. So they remain in Bundesliga 2 with Magdeburg, Dynamo Dresden and Energie Cottbus, who were joined by playoff winners Rot-Weiß Erfurt, while Lok Leipzig are the East’s sole representatives in 3. Liga.
Could Prusseit lead Union to a 4th successive title in 20141? And could they go one step further and win the Champions League? Join us on Friday to find out!
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