While the fans on the forest side went completely nuts and Josip Juranovic could hardly believe his luck, Geronimo Rulli closed his eyes ten meters away and indicated a powerful bite into the ball. The Ajax goalkeeper had just made a fatal mistake and a glance at the almost resigned body language of his colleagues boded ill for the six-time European Cup winners.
1. FC Union didn’t create a single chance to score in the first 45 minutes, but led 2-0. Maybe it was the luck of the brave, maybe the football god in these first weeks of 2023 is Köpenicker, in any case everything went for the hosts in this intermediate round second leg in front of 21,800 spectators in the sold-out stadium An der Alten Försterei.
In the end, goals from Robin Knoche, Juranovic, Mohammed Kudus and Danilho Doekhi made it 3-1 (2-0) for Union. After the 0:0 in the first leg in the round of 16 of the Europa League and the team and fans celebrating by far the greatest international success in the club’s history, the Berliners are left out for minutes.
The game had already started spectacularly in the stands with a big choreo, on the pitch it took a while before anything worth mentioning happened in the penalty areas. It was noticeable to the guests that they wanted to put much more aggressive pressure on Union than in the first leg. Although this led to a clear visual overweight, against Union’s compact back team, it did not lead to clear conclusions.
The Berliners largely limited themselves to the safe defense – and had the luck of the game on their side. During the first action in the penalty area, Danilho Doekhi headed Calvin Bassey in the arm from close range and referee Ricardo de Burgos awarded the penalty after the video assistant had advised him and the replay was considered. After some discussions and a brief formation of a pack, Robin Knoche scored in the 20th minute with a bit of luck to make it 1-0.
The Amsterdamers then increased the pressure and Union could hardly provide any relief. In contrast to the first leg, Ajax now managed to create danger from the 70 percent possession of the ball. Kudus in particular came to a dangerous end, but was offside when he supposedly equalized. A goal was in the air – and fell on the other side.
A cross from Sheraldo Becker was cleared centrally, Rani Khedira and Kevin Behrens almost ran into each other and Juranovic tried a weak left foot from long range. His shot landed on the wet grass, but was actually harmless. But Rulli missed and Union went into the dressing room with an extremely flattering 2-0.
The second half probably started exactly as guest coach Johnny Heitinga had imagined. A cross from Bergwijn touched Kudus in the six-yard box and the ball landed in the far corner. Now Ajax was only one goal away from extra time and the body language was completely different again.
However, the success of 1. FC Union this season is based above all on above-average resilience and so the Berliners immediately found the right answer. Central defender Doekhi rushed in in his inimitable style from a Juranovic corner and scored his fourth goal of the calendar year against his former employer.
Ajax kept pressing, but when Kudus fired wide from a few yards to the left after a good hour, it slowly became clear that Union would emerge victorious on this historic Thursday night.
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