It was a thrilling experience at the Deutsche Bank Park as Oliver Burke’s hat-trick set the mark for a victory for the visitors. The Bundesliga clash was ended by a late flush of cards which saw Steffen Beumgart being sent off just before the end of the game.
Lineups
Eintracht’s starting XI is currently the youngest in the Bundesliga with and average age of 24 years and 190 days. Dino Toppmöller made three changes to the side that won Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League bringing Kauã Santos in goal. Jonathan Burkardt and Ansgar Knauff dropped to the bench for Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and Elye Wahi. Others on the squad were Arthur Theate, Robin Koch, Farès Chaïbi, Hugo Larsson, Ritsu Dōan, Nathaniel Brown, Nandi Collins, and Can Uzun.
While for FC Union Berlin Steffen Beumgart made two changes to his squad from the Hoffenheim match as Diogo Leite made his first appearance of the season and Derrick Kohn came in on the side. Other members of the squad included Frederik Rønnow, Danilho Doekhi, Oliver Burke, Rani Khedira, Ilyas Ansah, Leopold Quefeld, Janik Heberer, Andrej Ilić, and Christopher Trimmel.
Match overview
The game kicked-off with intense action as Bahoya was brought down by Trimmel just 25 meters from goal but the resulting set piece was sent wide towards the far post with no one to get on the end of the delivery for Eintracht.
Shortly after Eintracht had another go at the lead through fullback Brown who was left unpressured on the edge of the box but his swerving effort was calmly but awkwardly collected by Rønnow.
Union were able to take the lead in the ninth minute through a long distance effort from Ansah into the far post. The chance came as a result of a sloppy play as Eintracht tried to play out from the back and lost it but were able to regain possession almost instantaneously but soon lost it again to Burke who worked it to Ilić who in turn sent it to Ansah.
The opener by Ansah differentiated the two sides for twenty three minutes till Burke was able to increase the lead with a clinical finish past Kauä Santos. Steffen Baumgart’s men were off to a good start convert twice on their two attempts at goal.
Eintracht came close to pulling one back late in the first half when Wahi got on the end of a Brown cross but was only able to steer it into the side netting.
With five minutes of stoppage left Brown was able to reduce the hosts’ deficit scoring in the fourth minute when Brown cut in from the left flank past Burke and fired at goal. The shot was aided by a deflection from Uzun taking it away from Rønnow into the bottom left corner of the net.
Still trailing by a goal, the home side dominated possession for the first 50 minutes of play but were unfortunate as Scotsman Burke got his second of the day through a towering header from an Ilić cross.
Three minutes later, the Scotsman got his hat-trick from a counterattack opportunity which Ilić chipped into the path of Burke who was able to lift if past goalkeeper Kauā Santos making it 1-4 for the visitors.
Eintracht replied with a triple substitution and another in the sixty-ninth minute but only clawed one back in the eightieth minute through efforts of Can Uzun.
Following a review of a tackle by Querfeld on Burkardt referee Jablonski awarded a penalty which Jonathan Burkardt was able to convert bringing the scoreline to 3-4.
It seemed like the action was over until Union manager Steffen Baumgart was sent off for overzealously protesting Collins’ foul on Khedira, one in which Collins was booked.
With an additional ten minutes of play the visitors almost increased their lead through the effort Jeong which was sent clear of the crossbar. The visitors however kept on looking dangerous but were unlucky at increasing their lead.
Union will now move up to 10th place and will face Hamburger SV on Sunday, while Eintracht will drop to 6th ahead of the game at Mönchengladbach on Saturday.
