Union’s Crucial Second Leg

In the second leg of this year’s play-offs for the knockout round of the Europa League, 1. FC Union Berlin will face Ajax Amsterdam at the stadium An der Alten Försterei on Thursday, 21.02.2023. Kick off is at 21:00.

The lie of the land

After the goalless draw between the sides currently second in the Eredivisie and third in the Bundesliga in the first leg (the only one of the knock out round), at least one thing is certain; there will be a minimum of one goal seen on Thursday night. Whether that comes in the 90 minutes, extra time or in a penalty shoot-out, however, remains to be seen. It is also worth remembering that the away goals rule no longer counts in UEFA competition. The winner will enter the last 16 of the Europa League.

The opponents

Ajax coach John Heitinga’s team were certainly more accurate in front of goal over the last weekend than Union, giving Sparta Rotterdam no chance in a 4-0 mauling, in which they were two up after less than half an hour. Mohamed Kudus scored the fourth with a superb direct free kick just before the final whistle.

A more detailed check of the opponents can be found in the pre-match report.

The personnel

András Schäfer is still not available for selection and Niko Giesselmann was forced to end training early on Thursday, but his fitness will be assessed on Thursday morning. Otherwise Urs Fischer has a complete squad at his disposal.

The coach and player’s view ahead of the match.

“We have to repeat our performance from the first leg and go one better, still,” said Urs Fischer, Union head coach during his press conference on wednesday. “We have to take our chances, so efficiency is enormously important. In the first leg, we showed a very good side to ourselves overall and we were very disciplined. In the end, of course, we also need a bit of luck on our side.”

Dutch defender Danilho Doekhi, meanwhile, is looking forward to the return match: “We have a good feeling for the game. In Amsterdam, we delivered a good game and were a bit unlucky when the goal was pulled back. We want to win the return match for the fans as well.”

Service info

The away section in the stadium An der Alten Försterei is sold out. As usual, the stadium gates will open two hours before kick-off. Due to the changed route to and from the stadium An der Alten Försterei, pedestrians are asked to allow extra time for their journey.

The match will be broadcast live on RTL and, as usual, Union will also report on the match on the club’s own live ticker, as well as in English on Twitter.