Bundesliga Preview: Union Berlin vs Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund travel to newcomers Union Berlin on Matchday 3 of the Bundesliga. Having already faced a scare against a newly-promoted club last week, the Black and Yellows will be hoping for an easy win this week to continue their sublime form.
Location: Stadion An der Alten Forsterei, Berlin, Germany
Date: 31/8/2019
Time: 12:30pm (ET)
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Union Berlin
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14th place Union Berlin, who recently got promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history will be looking to make a statement. Although it will be difficult against an already formidable Borussia Dortmund team. After scraping through with a point against Augsburg in their previous game and having their vulnerable backline exposed by RB Leipzig on matchday 1, it will certainly be difficult to contain the free-scoring Black and Yellows.
Borussia Dortmund
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Borussia Dortmund are going into the game on the back of a 3-1 victory over newly-promoted FC Koln. But make no mistake it was a close encounter that could have gone either way. But what it all boiled down to in the end was the team’s ability to go the full 90 minutes despite starting off with a sluggish performance. A few moments of individual brilliance from the likes of Jadon Sancho and Julian Brandt made all the difference in the end. The Black and Yellows will be hoping to carry on this momentum for Saturday’s game.
Team News
The Black and Yellows will be without new signing Thorgan Hazard for a few weeks as he recovers from a rib injury. Axel Witsel is also out, having suffered an adductor injury.
Union Berlin will have a fully fit squad although they will be missing centre-back, Keven Schlotterbeck after he was sent off against Augsburg last week.
Opposition Star Man: Sebastian Andersson
The Swedish international was the club’s top scorer in Bundesliga 2 last year and played a pivotal role in their journey to promotion. Anderssen opened his account last week after scoring the equaliser against Augsburg and will be looking for his second against Dortmund. Hummels and Akanji will be busy with their heads as the Swede is deadly in the air and has a fine bit of finishing.
Previous Match: Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Union Berlin
These two sides met last year in the DFB Pokal in a nailbiting encounter which went down to the wire. It was Christian Pulisic who grabbed the opener after a cross from Dahoud found Kagawa which was initially saved but the American was there to pounce on the rebound. The two teams went into halftime evenly matched with Pulisic’s goal being the only difference. In the 60th minute Sebastian Polta found himself in space and snuck the ball past Marwin Hitz to make it 1-1.
Just about 13 minutes later Pulisic found Phillip who buried the ball past Gikiewicz to make it 2-1 for the hosts. The game should have been seen out from there but the Borussia Dortmund defence was caught napping and in the 88th minute Sebastian Polter made it 2-2 to end the game into extra time. It was ultimately Marco Reus’ penalty which made the difference after a foul was committed on Pulisic in the 120th minute and the captain was there to slot the ball home.
Expected Lineups:
Union Berlin: Gikiewicz – Trimmel, Subotic, Friedrich, Lenz – Becker, Andrich, Promel, Bulter – Ujah, Ingvartsen
Borussia Dortmund: Burki – Piszczek, Akanji, Hummels, Hakimi – Delaney, Weigl – Sancho, Reus, Brandt – Alcacer
Next. Borussia Dortmund’s All-Time Best XI. dark