Union’s 200th Bundesliga game produces record-breaking half | OneFootball

While Stuttgart reach the cup final and still have a chance to qualify for Europe via Bundesliga standings, Union Berlin head into this duel as the in-form team. The Irons' coach Steffen Baumgart makes two changes from the Leverkusen draw as Tom Rothe and Benedict Hollerbach are promoted to the starting XI.

Similarly, Enzo Millot and Deniz Undav are back in Stuttgart’s lineup for the two changes by Sebastian Hoeneß. Nick Woltemade’s suspension led to a first start for Undav, who last scored in mid-January.

In a landmark fixture for the hosts, who are playing their 200th Bundesliga match, Baumgart’s team started with a bang. Andrej Ilić scored in the fourth minute as Danilo Doekhi heads home Christopher Trimmel’s corner-kick in his direction. The 38-year-old fullback proved his worth with another set-piece play after signing a contract extension.

Stuttgart nearly equalized right away when Ermedin Demirovic faced an open goal, but he failed to convert the simple chance. Union followed it up by scoring their second goal with yet another set-piece play from Trimmel.

Once again, his delivery first found Leopold Querfeld before Diogo Leite provided the finishing touch from the far post. It’s a first goal of the season for the Portuguese defender. The two-goal deficit makes things difficult for VfB, but they did reduce the score right away.

Undav ended his goal drought with an unstoppable shot into the bottom left corner. And, in the half-hour mark, Stuttgart make it 2-2 with another top-notch goal. Millot fires it from a long distance with a curling shot.

That was only half of the first-half madness, however. Union regained the lead with another goal from a center-back. Querfeld smashed it home from 35 meters out as he beat Alexander Nübel with a ferocious attempt.

Frederik Rönnow made a superb stop from Angelo Stiller’s shot to deny Stuttgart, but they did get their third when Stiller’s cross was converted by Jeff Chabot. And, in the first minute of injury-time, Stuttgart led for the first time in the game.

Chris Führich slots home with a fine finish after a quick break by Stuttgart. Of course, that’s not going to be the end of a memorable first-half at Försterei. Ilić, who scored the first goal of the game, makes it 4-4 in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Union’s captain Trimmel was involved once again with a pinpoint cross.

Curiously, the official Bundesliga stat shows both teams had an xG of below 1 despite the eight goals. Querfeld’s goal also set a new Bundesliga xG record (since xG stats began in the 2021/22 season) as it was given a 1.2% chance of conversion.

It’s also the first time we’ve seen eight goals in one half of a Bundesliga match. After the break, the rhythm of the game changed with both teams struggling to even create goal-scoring opportunities.

Benedikt Hollerbach had the first chance of the second-half with a long-range effort in the 56th minute. The half-time team talks certainly played a role in the change of plans by the teams. However, VfB dominate possession in a quieter half of football. In the end, all the goals were scored in the record-shattering first-half.

Union’s historic game ended with the club securing its status for next season. They’re now free of any danger of going down in the remaining four rounds of the campaign. Meanwhile, Stuttgart remain in the bottom half of the standings. The Swabians do have another route to Europe as they face Arminia Bielefeld in the Pokal final next month.