Borussia Dortmund vs. Union Berlin preview: Home comforts to boost BVB morale | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund

As the clock ticked on, Borussia Dortmund looked set to earn themselves a maximum tally of three points in their Bundesliga opener against St.Pauli. However, drama ensued after the 85th-minute when Filippo Mane was shown a straight red card for dragging down Abdoulie Ceesay in the box. The double blow of a penalty and the numerical disadvantage derailed their locomotive to glory.

Their lead was cut to 3-2 as Danel Sinani stroked home the spot-kick leaving for a grand-slam finish. Niko Kovac’s 10-men hoped to see it out until a wonder-strike from St.Pauli skipper Eric Smith pierced the net on 89 minutes for a 3-3 draw at the Millerntor-Stadion. However, it wasn’t all bad news for BVB – despite a rather flat performance, they still managed to score three themselves and it could have been more.

Serhou Guirassy proved he hasn’t lost his touch with a wonderful glancing header, Waldemar Anton netted from a fine team move and Julian Brandt made a notable bench impact. Although Jobe Bellingham’s topflight debut was far from inspiring, the home comforts of the Westfalenstadion should give BVB some assistance against this weekend alongside the new signings Carney Chukwuemeka and Anselmino.

Team news:

(3-4-2-1) Kobel – Ryerson, Anton, Bensebaini – Couto, Gross, Sabitzer, Svensson – Jobe – Guirassy, Adeyemi

Gregor Kobel starts in goals as normal, it might come too soon for Chelsea loanee Anselmino to start, so Julian Ryerson ought to replace the suspended Filippo Mane alongside Waldemar Anton and Ramy Bensebaini. Yan Couto, Pascal Gross, Marcel Sabitzer and Daniel Svensson should form the midfield quartet. Jobe Bellingham is expected to get another chance in the No.10 role behind Serhou Guirassy and Karim Adyemi.

Aside from that, long-term absentees Niklas Sule, Julien Duranville, Emre Can and Nico Schlotterbeck all remain sidelined with varying injuries.

1.FC Union Berlin

As for the visitors 1.FC Union Berlin, they battled to a somewhat unexpected 2-1 triumph over VfB Stuttgart last Saturday to make it a dream start to the league campaign. Many expected the Swabians to take the points home, but the Stadion An der Alten Foersterei is a tough place to go and Steffen Baumgart’s men pulled off the perfect smash and grab performance.

Summer signing Ilyas Ansah hit the ground running in style and made himself the Eiserner’s hero on Matchday 1 with a brace. The 20-year-old struck on 18 minutes and repeated the dose just before the half-time whistle sounded – a lesson in ruthless efficiency for Stuttgart as the Kopenick club scored from their only two shots on target. Tiago Tomas cut the deficit late on, but Union held on for the spoils.

Now, Baumgart’s team hit the road for the first time this season with the Westfalenstadion sure to be atmospheric and intimidating. It’s interesting to note that there’s never been a draw between these sides in 12 meetings. However, Union will hope to better last season’s 6-0 whitewashing at the hands of BVB – with the hosts not at full steam just yet, it might well be possible.

Team news:

(3-5-2) Ronnow – Doekhi, Querfeld, Rothe – Trimmel, Schafer, Khedira, Haberer, Skov – Ilic, Ansah

Head coach Baumgart is expected to go with an unchanged team from the side that defeated Stuttgart, with Frederik Ronnow between the posts. Danilo Doekhi, Leo Querfeld and Tom Rothe will form the back-three. Christopher Trimmel and Robert Skov ought to flank a central midfield trio of Andras Schafer, Rani Khedira and Janik Haberer. Up top, Ilyas Ansah will continue his partnership with Andrej Ilic.

On the missing personnel front, Diogo Leite is sidelined while Livan Burcu’s ankle injury has required surgery therefore limiting his involvement fully. Lucas Tousart, Josip Juranovic and Stanley Nsoki remain doubts.