1. FC Union Berlin will look to bounce back from Thursday’s defeat in Prague with a positive result at Borussia Dortmund on Sunday at 17:30.
Review: The last match
Despite Kevin Behrens getting Union’s UEFA Europa Conference League group stage record off the mark, Union Berlin came away without points against Slavia Prague. The Czech champions proved strong opposition for Urs Fischer’s side, winning 3-1 at the Eden Arena. Alexander Bah put the Czechs ahead after a quarter of an hour with a clean finish from a corner kick. The first half got worse for the Köpenick club as Paul Jaeckel was shown his second booking and dismissed before the 45 minutes were out. Fischer and his players dug out a remarkable response with 10 players for around half an hour as Union dragged themselves back into the game. Sheraldo Becker delivered a teasing cross for Kevin Behrens to score the first goal of the group stage after coming off the bench. The intensity and the numbers eventually caught up despite the 4,000 in attendance at the Eden Arena from Berlin. Jan Kuchta put the hosts ahead on 84 minutes before a sucker punch was added from Ivan Schranz two minutes later to give the Czechs a winning start to the campaign.
Borussia Dortmund: Opposition Report
Borussia Dortmund’s group phase in the UEFA Champions League started with a victory, as Marco Rose’s side ran out 2-1 winners at Besiktas. Jude Bellingham impressed for the Yellow and Blacks, scoring a goal on 20 minutes and assisting the decisive strike from Erling Haaland in first-half stoppage time. In the Bundesliga, Dortmund are three points off Wolfsburg at the top of the league after four matches with champions Bayern Munich in between. The 2-1 defeat to Freiburg is the only blip until now for Marco Rose who embarks on a new era following his departure from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Dortmund’s Bundesliga matches so far have certainly been high scoring, with 19 goals in the other three matches combined – 5-2 at home to Frankfurt, 3-2 versus Hoffenheim and 4-3 against Bayer Leverkusen last week. Norwegian hitman Haaland already has five goals to his name this season in the league in just 4 matches.
Borussia Dortmund: The coach’s view
“Borussia Dortmund have individual quality who can win games. Transitions, until now they do it better than others with speed and precision. They are fun to watch. The balance is important. You can’t just defend, when you win the ball, you have to be brave and trust yourself. We need to at times soak things up. They will keep the ball and try to break teams down. Important for us to be compact for 90 minutes in order to get the result,” said Urs Fischer on the challenge ahead at Signal Iduna Park.
Personnel
Kevin Möhwald has trained well according to the Union coach, but with more matches to come, the judgement is to remain cautious. Fischer pointed to a clean bill of health elsewhere ahead of the trip to Dortmund.
Service
Union will have more than 500 supporters in attendance from the limited away tickets available.