OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 40 | The Most Perfect Hat-Trick

Union Berlin’s hopes of a fourth successive Bundesliga title were long-gone as Ruprecht Prusseit’s exhausted squad took a winter break heading into 2041. A run of 10 league games without a win had seen Union go into the new year sitting in 7th place and 11 points back from leaders Stuttgart.

As a result, they looked likely to have their work cut out to keep their best players in January with the usual suspects circling. But they managed to hold on for now as no clubs met Prusseit’s high valuations, while adding a few decent youngsters to the strong under-19 squad.

Looking For An Improvement In Form

Union began 2041 with a trip to relegation-threatened Mainz and won 4-1 with braces by left winger Bruno Rodríguez and midfielder José Marco. They then had consecutive 5-1 wins at Nürnber, in which José Marco scored two more, and at bottom-side Schalke, in which he scored and got two assists, which showed signs that the real Union could be back. In fact, those three wins moved them to within nine points of the top of the league.

But a much tougher test saw 2nd-place Leverkusen come to town and Prusseit was convinced they were well and truly back as Milosevic and attacker Markus Ambrosius earned a 2-1 win. Next up was the Berliner Derby, a draw in which Prusseit believed triggered their earlier poor form. And he was worried the same might happen again as they missed the best chances, including a penalty, and had a late goal disallowed in a 0-0 away draw.

A week later, another big game followed at home to fellow OstDeutsch side RB Leipzig. Union dominated another exciting game in which the sides shared 40 shots, but it looked destined for another 0-0 until Sepúlveda struck on 83 minutes. Prusseit then celebrated his 800th match in management with the best performance of the season. The in-form José Marco was superb again, bagging a hat-trick as Union ran riot 6-1 at 5th-place Wolfsburg.

Champions League Progression

Union were looking good to progress in the Champions League, with a top-eight finish also possible. They did those chances the world of good as the campaign resumed with a 3-0 win at home to Red Bull Salzburg. The league phase concluded at home to Stade Brestois and goals by striker Claudio Sépulveda, attacking midfielder Leandro Van Dessel and young striker Nuno Valadão’s first for the club earned a 3-1 victory. And that sealed 5th place in the league stage!

The last 16 saw Union drawn against AC Milan, which could have been a lot worse considering the teams that qualified through the knockout round. A trip to Italy was up first and Union had Van Dessel to thank for a brilliant brace to inspire a 3-1 win, before Sepúlveda repeated the feat in a 4-0 home thumping to ease into the quarter-finals.

Next up was Man UFC, who won every match in the league phase, but Union seized control by taking their chances in devastating fashion. Sepúlveda scored either side of half-time, Van Dessel scored in first-half injury time and Fágner and Ambrosius both scored in second-half injury time to crown a famous 5-0 victory. That allowed Prusseit to rotate and a 2-1 loss at Old Trafford sent Union into the semis for the second time.

The semis saw an all-German affair as Union faced Leverkusen while Arsenal took on Barcelona. Union were at home again in the first leg and dominated the game by 24 shots to seven but only made one count as winger Miroslav Milosevic drilled home from 20 yards. But the second leg was a different story as Van Dessel scored a brace and created goals for Rodríguez and Sepúlveda to earn a 5-2 aggregate success. So Union were heading to consecutive Champions League Finals!

Fighting For 2nd Place

Union’s uptick in form early in 2041 had lifted Union up to 3rd with 10 games remaining. Bayern were well out of reach, but Stuttgart had dropped back to 6 points away, meaning 2nd place was a possibility. The run-in began by dominating Fortuna Düsseldorf by 30 shots to one and winning 4-0 led by a Sepúlveda brace. A 1-1 at home to Frankfurt seemed to have killed their hopes of 2nd, but a week later Sepúlveda’s crucial last-minute goal nicked a 2-1 win at Stuttgart.

They backed that up by beating Dortmund 3-1, which moved them four points behind Stuttgart with a game in hand. And they maintained the pressure with consecutive 5-1 wins at Köln and Gladbach both led by Sepúlveda hat-tricks. But Prusseit fully rotated ahead of the Leverkusen semis at home to Werder Bremen and they fell to a 2-0 defeat. But they wrapped up the campaign with a 2-0 win at Freiburg, 2-2 at Hamburg then a final day 2-2 draw at home to new champions Bayern.

That saw Union finish in a respectable 4th place, with a league-high 80 goals and 30 conceded. While 10 German teams, more than half the league, qualified for Europe this season! Sepúlveda was again Bundesliga top scorer with 28 goals in 32 games, Van Dessel had the top average rating of 7.69, topped the assists chart with 17 followed by Milosevic with 14 and got a league-high eight player of the match awards.

Champions League Final

Union’s opponent in their second Champions League Final was Arsenal, who defeated Barcelona 3-2 in the semis and Bayern in the quarters. And fans from Germany and England descended on Kyiv’s NSC Olimpiyski for the big game.

Prusseit lost Ambrosius and full-back Zé Serrão to injury in training, which meant he lined up:

Lee; Wada, Belkacem, Borborema, Poulos; Iida; José Marco; Milosevic, Van Dessel, Rodríguez; Sepúlveda
Subs: Valadão, Reitz, Ayan, Fágner, Ouédraogo, Hernández, Diallo, Czierwinski, Johnston

Having not scored in 120 minutes in last season’s Final, Union put that right inside three minutes this time. A brilliant counter-attack ended up with Rodríguez, whose deflected cross looped up for Sepúlveda to head home. Their counter proved devastating again 19 minutes later as Milosevic teed up Sepúlveda for a second, only for VAR to step in. But it didn’t take long to double their lead as a free-kick broke down, José Marco passed inside to Rodríguez and the winger smashed it into the bottom corner. Arsenal couldn’t handle Union and three minutes later it was 3-0 as a superb flowing move again finished with Rodríguez’s deflected cross being headed in by Sepúlveda.

Arsenal only managed one shot on target from a free-kick and Union went into half-time 3-0 ahead. It should have been four after 70 minutes as Milosevic somehow missed from two yards out then Arsenal went down the other end and missed a similar sitter. But Union finished the game off as a Rodríguez cross was cleared straight to Sepúlveda who stabbed home for a perfect hat-trick in the Champions League Final. Prusseit rang the changes and one made an immediate impact as homegrown Fágner slammed home a superb volley.

Union Berlin were Champions of Europe! And the first East German team ever to win the Champions League!

Reflecting On European Glory

This was another superb season for Union, despite a very iffy start to their league campaign. Union’s unfancied European success saw Prusseit finally enter the German Hall of Fame in 8th place, a long, long way behind leader Julian Nagelsmann.

Sepúlveda was again Union’s top scorer with 53 goals and five assists in 48 games, while Van Dessel was exceptional with 27 goals and 20 assists. However, a key man this season was José Marco, who finished with 17 goals and 10 assists in 48 games, having had no assists and five goals after 24 games going into the winter break.

Also impressive were Milosevic with 12 goals and a club-high 21 assists and Rodríguez with 11 goals and 16 assists, while Ambrosiys and Czerwinski chipped in with seven assists apiece.