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Ten man Union suffer quarter-final knock

Late goals for Leverkusen:

Wed, 04. March 2020
Ten man Union suffer quarter-final knock

1. FC Union Berlin went down 1-3 at Bayer Leverkusen with ten men and exit the DFB Pokal at the quarter-final stage.

Marcus Ingvartsen returned to the team and headed Urs Fischer's into the lead after 39 minutes.

But the match turned after Christopher Lenz's second yellow in the 71st minute and within 60 seconds, Karim Bellarabi had equalised for Leverkusen. The Köpenick club defended bravely, but the one-way traffic was too much to hold out and Charles Aranguiz and Moussa Diaby fired Peter Bosz's team into the semi-final inside the last four minutes.

Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky; Tah (Diaby 45), S. Bender, Tapsoba; Sinkgraven, Amiri (Weiser 45), Aranguiz, Demirbay; Havertz, Alario, Bailey (Bellarabi 69)

1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Schlotterbeck, Friedrich, Parensen; Ryerson, Lenz, Prömel (Kroos 81), Andrich; Bülter (Trimmel 73), Ujah (Andersson 70), Ingvartsen

Urs Fischer stuck by his promise to freshen up the side for the midweek Cup tie. Out of the side went Christian Gentner, Christopher Trimmel, Neven Subotic, Yunus Malli and Sebastian Andersson and in came Grischa Prömel, Michael Parensen, Julian Ryerson, Marcus Ingvartsen and Anthony Ujah. If the Union head coach was looking for a sprightly, energetic performance, he got it. His team dominated second balls and carved out a chance in attack after 11 minutes. Ujah held his run to find space in behind, the Nigerian picked out Bülter who was denied by Lukas Hradecky. As a result of a medical emergency in the home end, both sets of supporters opted to remain silent in respect for the fan receiving treatment. This certainly had an effect on the tempo of the game and the number of mistakes from the home end. That said, Union's excellent discipline off-the-ball forced Peter Bosz's team into errors, which in the end led to the opening goal. Jonathan Tah gave the ball away and Union pounced. Bülter took the ball down the right-side of the box, chipped to the back-post and Ingvartsen nodded past Leverkusen's Hradecky.

Leverkusen's half-time switch showed how frustrated the home side were with the first 45 minutes – Moussa Diaby and Mitchell Weiser replaced Tah and Nadiem Amiri. Although Bosz's men appeared to carry more of a punch in attack, Union defended resolutely. In attack, chances were a premium for the visitors, with Robert Andrich's speculative effort on the hour the only sight of goal. Ujah couldn't add to his goal from the first round, but his outstanding work-rate was rewarded with an early night as he was replaced by Sebastian Andersson. The game turned on the 71st minute when Lenz dived in on Aranguiz and received his second yellow card. It took Karim Bellarabi just a few seconds to rifle the equaliser past Rafal Gikiewicz. Fischer tried to plug defensive holes with Trimmel's experience, but Leverkusen were too strong in the end. Charles Aranguiz headed the home side into a 2-1 lead in the 86th minute before Diaby finished off the contest in the second minute of stoppage time to put Leverkusen into the last four.