Eintracht draw 1-1 with Union after frantic finale | OneFootball

There was no separating Union Berlin and Eintracht on Friday evening. Nathaniel Brown broke the deadlock with a stunning strike (83’), only for the hosts to salvage a point from the penalty spot (87’).

Riera makes two changes Eintracht’s new head coach made two alterations to the Eagles side that started last weekend’s game at home to Bayer Leverkusen. Oscar Højlund and Farès Chaibi were brought in for the suspended Ellyes Skhiri and Aurèle Amenda, who was named on the bench. Ansgar Knauff missed Friday’s encounter altogether with a cold. Riera’s team quickly took control of proceedings at the Stadion an der Alten Försterei, with Union happy to sit back and soak up Eintracht’s attacks. However, despite enjoying over 80 percent possession in the early stages, the visitors were unable to find a breakthrough. 

Santos alertChances remained few and far between until Chaibi tried his luck from the edge of the area with six minutes of the first half remaining, but the Algerian failed to hit the target. Aljoscha Kemlein went closer at the other end when he met Chaibi’s attempted headed clearance with a sweetly struck volley, which Kaua Santos managed to parry to safety.A misplaced back-pass from Robin Koch almost let in Ilyas Ansah shortly afterwards, but the Union striker was unable to capitalise on the defender’s error as the teams went into half-time locked at 0-0.

Højlund goes close

The home side continued to defend deep early in the second half and were fortunate not to fall behind when Højlund latched on to Arnaud Kalimuendo’s pass and fired wide at the end of a flowing Eintracht attack (56’).

Köhn strikes post

Riera’s charges continued to enjoy the lion’s share of possession, but clear-cut opportunities remained at a premium for the visitors. Union rarely threatened at the other end, but they almost took the lead in the 76thminute when Derrick Köhn rattled the post from a tight angle.

Brown opens scoring

The Eintracht fans finally had something to celebrate in the 83rd minute of the match. A cross from Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab, who had only just come off the bench, was cleared only as far as Nathaniel Brown, who hammered the ball into the top corner from 14 metres out. 

Union awarded spot-kick, Højlund dismissed

Only three minutes later, however, Højlund fouled Rani Khedira inside the penalty area and was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence. Santos was unable to keep out Leopold Querfeld’s spot-kick, meaning the Eagles had to settle for a share of the spoils.