Thanks to Kevin Behrens: 1. FC Union wins 2-1 against Bremen

Kevin Behrens kept running and again he was close to the goal. This time he didn’t catch the ball in front of Jiri Pavlenka, but he did get his shot. Sheraldo Becker placed the rebound in the goal corner, which is worth seeing. But the jubilation died down when the goal was taken back by Behrens after a handball.

However, he flared up again shortly after the break when Behrens rewarded himself with a headed goal for the great effort and gave 1. FC Union the winning goal in the Bundesliga against Werder Bremen. In front of 41,500 spectators, Union was ultimately the happy winner against a strong opponent on Wednesday evening and won 2-1 (1-1) in the Weser Stadium.

Union coach Urs Fischer had already indicated on Tuesday that his new signing Josip Juranovic didn’t have much time to acclimatize given the tight schedule – and he didn’t get that either. Fischer promptly used him from the start against Werder instead of Christopher Trimmel. In addition, Behrens up front and Diogo Leite in the back three were in the starting XI. Jordan Siebatcheu Pefok and Paul Jaeckel initially took a seat on the bench.

Behrens, in particular, seemed to want to seize his chance immediately and after just five minutes, tackled Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka with the ball. A significant scene for the game of Berlin on Wednesday. Overall, Union was the more active team in the early stages, Werder sometimes withdrew to behind the center line and mostly left the ball and a lot of space in their own half to the Berliners. Ole Werner’s team waited patiently for his chances, which initially didn’t materialize.

Until Genki Haraguchi caused a free kick at his own penalty area after a quarter of an hour after pulling his jersey and gave Bremen a good standard position. Marvin Ducksch circled perfectly to the penalty spot, where the run-in Amos Pieper headed through the legs of Frederik Rönnow.

It was Pieper of all people just four minutes later who invited Union to equalize with a back pass that was clearly too short. Pavlenka tried to catch the ball in front of Behrens, but it was only enough for a rebound, which Janik Haberer pushed dryly into the empty goal.

Werder acted with pressure after the goal

However, the goal did not seem to drive Union further, but rather Werder, who then exerted immense pressure and almost took the lead again through Leonardo Bittencourt. Bremen’s striker got the ball in the penalty area after Niclas Füllkrug had defended himself against three Berliners in the sixteen. Bittencourt’s shot attempt only hit the post.

The defense of the guests seemed anything but safe in this phase and was only able to catch something after half an hour. As a result, Fischer’s team was anxious to build up calmly and regained some control over the game.

Shortly before the break, Pieper played a back pass to Pavlenka, but this time it worked. But the Bremen goalkeeper needed too long for his shot and thus far too long for Kevin Behrens. Becker’s goal didn’t count and so Bremen had another chance just before the break. After filling from a filling pitcher, Niklas Schmidt failed because of a well-parried Rönnow.

After the change of sides, the leadership for Union. On his debut, Juranovic got an assist after his corner found Behrens’ head in the penalty area. But again Werder didn’t let themselves be put off by the renewed goal and played happily forward. An open and competitive game developed with opportunities on both sides. So Füllkrug and Behrens awarded in a promising position.

Both teams hardly allowed any chances from the game in the second half. Bremen had the best opportunity after a Bittencourt free-kick ten minutes before the end, but Rönnow deflected the shot over the crossbar. So it remained with the narrow away win of the Unioner, who thus finished the first half of the season in a strong second place.