The Union fans’ drum, when hit beforehand, cracked around the expanses of the Heinz-Krügel-Stadion, sounding like a rocket firing in the distance. It would be heard a lot on a day when the almost 400 Union fans who’d travelled to this gem of a stadium - where the pictures of the men’s successes long ago adorn the walls, and the muddy goalmouths and open terraces exude a certain footballing traditionalism – had plenty to celebrate. Union were dominant on a beautiful day for football; the first round of the cup proved for them to be a joy. They won by five; it could have been by more.

 It’s not often the women of 1. FC Magdeburg play in the main stadium, but this was a big occasion, after all; the Cup, the first time they had hosted Union since 2024 when their guests marched through the Regionalliga Nordost undefeated on the long walk to the Bundesliga. Indeed, the 9-0 win (with Naika Reissner scoring, just as she would today) at the Heinrich-Germer-Stadion back then meant that they just needed to beat Turbine II to secure the title the next week. This, history buffs, they did. 

At half time here, and with Union three goals to the good, the chances were not astronomical that could do something similar here again. 

For Union didn’t need long to brush Magdeburg aside. Leela Egli was causing havoc on the right from her first touch on, and started the move that led to Union’s opener after only three minutes. She took on Antonia Schulz, forcing her onto the back-foot before setting the overlapping Tomke Schneider up the right. Her cross was perfect, just below waist height, flat, perfectly paced and placed into a gap ahead of Magdeburg keeper, Pearl Neumann. Nele Bauereisen slipped onto it, finishing first time.

Though it was to be her only goal of the game, she would play a role in all of them.

Marie-Louise Eta stalked her technical area, in no mind to see her side let up the pressure, and, apart from Magdeburg striker, Akane Miyoshi, only Union keeper, Nadine Böhi, and defender, Jella Veit were often the only ones in their half. Miyoshi would cause a scare when played in over the top with seven minutes up, but Veit chased her down, shepherding her away from Böhi’s goal.

The host’s plan with those long balls over the top was clear, and Kira Bölke was the next one set away on the break, but, alone, she had too much work to do; Böhi held her speculative cross / shot easily above her head. She was to come out of her box with 25 minutes on the clock in an even sharper piece of sweeper-keeping.

Meanwhile, Union pushed up relentlessly, with Lia Kamber and Egli letting off efforts from range, and Reissner and Bauereisen from closer up. Sophie Weidauer pulled a cross diagonally back and across goal from the byline, but there was no-one there; Schneider tried something similar on the stroke of 15 minutes to similar effect. Egli twisted and turned her way into the box but couldn’t find the space to squeeze out a shot. Reissner  - the bit between her teeth - was penalised for a foul on Emily Bunnell as she attacked up the left, directly in front of the Unioner. Their roars of opprobrium rung out. When she then took on Montzki a moment or two later, it was all the Magdeburg midfielder could do to cling on to Reissner’s shirt, getting booked for her efforts.

The pressure was telling, and Union’s second came after 27 minutes, again after Egli found Schneider on the right, and again after her cross found Bauereisen, almost from the byline. This time however she rose to head it back across goal from the back post, leaving Neumann for dead. Weidauer stroked it over the unguarded line.

The hosts would get their first shot on goal not long afterwards, as Amy Cienskowski stabbed the ball straight at Böhi after a neatly worked corner - then a second as Miyoshi made Böhi parry her stinging drive from an angle - but Union were largely, utterly dominant. Neumann saved from Bauereisen at her feet and saw Schneider’s 20-yarder fly just wide of her right-hand upright and into the side netting. Kamber put her own shot from distance too centrally to trouble the stopper.

With the half almost up, Bunnell cleared off the line when Egli was sure she’d done enough to beat the sprawling Neumann, the culmination of the next of many Schneider bursts up the right. But it wasn’t enough.

Kamber made it 3-0 with the last kick of the half, letting fly with a devastating volley from inside the 18-yard-box with her right. Her head was still, her back straight, and her shot was unstoppable.

Eta swapped her full-backs, Schneider and Pujols, out at the break, bringing on Judith Steinert and Anna Weiß, like for like. Before the re-start she instructed them intensely, her hands making clear that they should keep up the first half's intensity along the flanks. 

Steinert was immediately involved in Union’s fourth – as was Bauereisen, of course - appearing outside the box to slip a fine ball through to Reissner, charging into space inside the box from the inside left. She took a touch and finished, low and hard, across Neumann and inside the back post. It was almost like muscle memory, she must love coming to Magdeburg. The confidence of her first goal of the season now obvious for all to see, Reissner swept a pass across goal that, somehow, just evaded Weidauer, in acres inside the box.

Weidauer flashed her own shot over the bar after a gorgeous piece of play that saw Hausicke backheel a return pass to Reissner along the way. Neumann then saved Steuerwald’s bending shot at head height, before Böhi would have to make two more of her own, both from Miyoshi, though neither were particularly troubling.

The only blight on the day for Union came in the sight of Steuerwald limping off disconsolately, having come off the worst in a 50-50 challenge. She was led straight off down the tunnel, her sight trained only on the floor as she went.

In Steuerwald’s place came Amber Tysiak, alongside Dina Orschmann, on for Hausicke. Orschmann (who had also scored in that 9-0 win) clearly wanted to repeat the feat, and saw her shot on the turn fly just wide of Neumann’s left-hand post. Tysiak stepped up from where she had left off, tackling Bölke with a glacial calmness, rolling the ball away from her before Veit did the same to the excellent Miyoshi, albeit with a little more strength and little less grace. If this was her first time playing centre-back for Union, it was her preferred role in Frankfurt. It showed. 

Reissner bagged her second, and Union’s fifth in the 69^th minute, and it was almost a carbon copy of her first, if the assist this time came from Bauereisen, pulling the ball back into her path. The finish, left-footed and across Neumann, however, was uncanny.

With just under 20 minutes to play, Union were now free to enjoy themselves a little, and Bauereisen was unfortunate not to get a penalty having turned substitute, Yona Schulz and Caroline Hildebrand in the same spinning move, guiding the ball with her right foot while moving around it like a comet on its way around the sun.

Bauereisen was replaced by the youngster Leona Seifert on 77 minutes, her work done for the day. She had earned a rest, though, for that matter, you could have said the same for the fans. They never stopped singing for a second, that single drum-crack punctuation as unrelenting as their heroes on the pitch. 

There were final flourishes – Reissner on the verge of a hattrick aiming for the near post but putting wide, Weidauer dashing onto a delicately lofted ball of the top from Veit, Kamber chancing her arm from 25 yards – but the spectacle was long over by this point.

Eta kept the players in a huddle before they could make it over to those delirious fans in their corner. She balled her fists as she raised her voice. This was just the beginning. For, as the banner they raised as the squad finally came over to bask in their hoarse adoration, said, “We are in the last sixteen”.