#RBLFCU: All the facts and figures about the win against Union!

Match Facts

Marco Rose made five changes to the team that started against Stuttgart: Peter Gulasci, Willi Orban, Benjamin Henrichs, Kevin Kampl and Xavi (yellow card suspension) replaced Janis Blaswich, Castello Lukeba, Mohamed Simakan, Nicolas Seiwald and Christoph Baumgartner in the starting lineup.
After 154 days –– or five months –– Willi Orban made his return to the starting eleven. Our captain also started his last Bundesliga game for RBL against Union Berlin in the reverse fixture on September 3rd.
Peter Gulacsi had to wait even longer for his Bundesliga comeback: after 491 (!) days –– or one year and four months –– Pete was back between the posts.
This match was Xaver Schlager‘s 60th match in an RBL jersey.
Professional debut! El Chadaille Bitshiabu came on as a substitute in the 85th minute – a competitive debut for Chad in our first team.

Lois Openda was responsible for the 1-0 lead for the fifth time this Bundesliga season; only Bayern’s Harry Kane and Stuttgart’s Deniz Undav have one their teams’ scoring as many times.
Lois Openda has scored in three straight Bundesliga games for the first time in his career.
With his 14th goal of the season, Lois set a new Bundesliga season record for a Belgian player. Before that, Emile Mpenza was the top-scoring Belgian with 13 goals for Schalke in the 2000/01 season.
Benjamin Sesko scored his fifth goal of the season, with three of them coming against Union Berlin.
Benjamin Sesko has scored in back to back Bundesliga games for the first time in his career.
Today marked RBL’s 13th and `14th goal from set pieces, the most in the Bundesliga this season.
David Raum tallied his sixth assist of the season, making him the second best creator in the RBL team this season after Xavi (seven assists).
Xavi was once again the linchpin of our attack, only missing a goal. In stoppage time, the youngster’s curling effort hit the bar after a spectacular dribble –– the fifth time that’s happened this season.

Marco Rose celebrated his 45th victory in his 70th competitive game as RBL coach, with the team scoring the 150th goal of his time in charge.
The points per game average under Rose now sits at 2.04 (all competitions).
RBL has now won six of their eight home games versus Union Berlin.
The clean sheet! After conceding at least one goal in each of the last 14 competitive games, RBL held Union scoreless.
After our eleventh win of the season, we remain in 5th place (36 points), but are only one point behind BVB (4th, 37 points).
The win creates some distance from those immediately behind us in the table: Frankfurt (6th, 31 points) and Freiburg (7th, 28 points).

Kevin Kampl received his 30th yellow card in an RBL jersey in the Bundesliga (the third of the current Bundesliga season), taking him to the most cautioned player in the team’s history. Marcel Sabitzer is in second place in this statistic with 29 yellow cards.
Mohamed Simakan missed the game due to suspension, but is available for selection against Augsburg.
Lois Openda and our coach Marco Rose are both one warning away from a suspension.

RB Leipzig had 64 percent possession.
Of 659 RBL passes, 91 percent were successful. Union’s pass rate was 82 percent.
RBL tallied 16 shots on the opponent’s goal, with Union Berlin finishing with only ten shots.
xG: Leipzig 1.56 – Union 0.55.