Go then! With the historic first home win in the history of the Bundesliga, SpVgg Greuther Fürth ended their black record series of twelve consecutive defeats. Havard Nielsen (56th) shot the cloverleaf to 1-0 (0-0) against Union Berlin and thus in the 24th attempt since his first season 2012/2013 for the first three in his own stadium. The Franconians achieved their last victory in the Bundesliga on May 4, 2013 at VfB Stuttgart (2-0).
“That was extremely important for us. It was a very long and difficult phase. We played a lot of good games in the past few weeks, but kept making mistakes. Today we were extremely focused, it was a strong performance by the entire team.” said Nielsen at DAZN.
However, the win in the ghost game against the Iron will not help the promoted team much: With four points after 15 match days, the Fürth team still separate twelve points from the relegation place in the table. All five teams that were similarly hopelessly beaten in the history of the Bundesliga at this point in the season were relegated in the end.
Due to the defeat, Union missed the chance to draw level with TSG Hoffenheim to fourth place in the Champions League and, after being eliminated in the Conference League, initially remains in sixth place in the Bundesliga. The Eiserne rarely found gaps in the otherwise permeable defense of the Fürth, who had conceded 17 goals in the past three games, but had strong support in substitute goalkeeper Sascha Burchert.
Nielsen-Abstauber makes Fürth cheer for the first time
As so often, Fürth played a good ball and could even have taken the lead early: Dickson Abiama deflected a shot from Branimir Hrgota dangerously, but Union goalkeeper Andreas Luthe cleared his foot (7th). And, as is so often the case, there were soon gaps in the defense: Burchert, deputy of the seriously injured Marius Funk, was not only strong against Max Kruse (13th).
Because the Fürth initially barely showed any nakedness and Union did not allow itself to be lured, the action took place after the first 15 minutes in midfield. There were hardly any chances on either side. After a corner from Hrgota, Nielsen rooted in the fray in the Berlin penalty area the fastest and dusted off. Shortly afterwards, Burchert terribly prevented the equalizer against Kevin Behrens (58th).
Union then continued to press forcefully, but often too imprecisely, not very imaginatively and not consistently enough in the conclusion. Fürth, on the other hand, defended the lead with passion. Niko Gießelmann (84th) gave the best chance to equalize.
Greuther Fürth against Union Berlin: The lineups
Fuerth: Burchert – Meyerhöfer, Griesbeck, Bauer, Willems – Christiansen – Seguin, Tillman (85th Seufert) – Hrgota (74th Itten), Abiama (61st Leweling), Nielsen (86th Dudziak)
Union Berlin: Luthe – Jaeckel, Knoche, Baumgartl (76th Voglsammer) – Ryerson, Prömel, Haraguchi (82nd Teuchert), Gießelmann – Behrens (82nd Endo), Kruse (63rd Awoniyi), Becker
