After their first win in the Europa League against Malmö FF (1-0) on Thursday evening, there is little let-up for the players of 1. FC Union Berlin. On Sunday, 09.10.2022, Union will meet VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. Kick off is at 19:30 in the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Immediately after the match in Malmö, the squad returned to Berlin, leaving head coach Urs Fischer and his coaching team only two sessions to ensure regeneration and preparation for the away match. The team are travelling to Stuttgart on Saturday.

The opponents

Stuttgart have hardly lit up the Bundesliga so far this season, with head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo's team yet to win a match. VfB, however, are league leaders when it comes to draws with five of them so far. It's not been enough, their winless streak leaves Stuttgart still in the relegation zone with only those five accrued points.

VfB had spent the build up to the new season shoring up their defence. In addition to Konstantinos Mavropanos and Hiroki Ito - both of whom signed on a permanent basis after a year on loan - Stuttgart brought in 21-year-old Josha Vagnoman from Hamburger SV and Dan-Axel Zagadou. Meanwhile up front, they had to compensate for the last-minute departure of Sasa Kalajdzic. In view of Kalajdzic's 36 goals in 60 games for Stuttgart, this proved to leave some big shoes for the new attackers Luca Pfeiffer, Serhou Guirassy and Juan José Perea to fill. So far, only Guirassy has scored two goals.

Some call it one-dimensional, others call it pragmatic, but apart from in one game, Matarazzo has stuck doggedly to his 3-5-2 formation, with Borna Sosa and the newly signed Vagnoman acting as wing-backs, shuttling between the backline and midfield. Most recently though, in the 3-2 loss away in Wolfsburg, Matarazzo tried a 4-3-3, with newcomer Guirassy as the only recognisable player up top. The midfield appeared lost, largely because Sosa and Vagnoman were absent.

The head-to-head

The two clubs have only met eight times in competitive matches, two of which being the play-off games that brought Union their historic promotion to the Bundesliga. Both of those, of course (as well as in four other duels) the teams parted with a draw. In the second division, Stuttgart have one win while Union have one in the top fligh, their second clash in that first Bundesliga season.

Alongside RB Leipzig, the Eisernen are the only team that VfB have beaten in the Bundesliga.

The personnel

The entire squad is available for the match in Stuttgart, with Timo Baumgartl and Tim Maciejewski availabled again after recent negative Corona tests. Kevin Möhwald has also rejoined team training.

The coaches' views on the game

"We have a plan for the game and of course we want to implement it", said Union head coach, Fischer. "We have to be active and attentive at all times. Of course, we also know about the sporting situation the opponents face, but that doesn't mean we'll take the 90 minutes lightly".

Meanwhile VfB coach Pellegrino Matarazzo said before the match: "Union are a special team, with an almost unique style of play. They run so much and are very good defensively. It will be important to assert ourselves in the many battles. If you are not prepared to suffer against Union, you have no chance. We must not play into their strengths, transition well, and make smart decisions."

Service info

Due to the late kick-off time on Sunday, Union are expecting around 1,000 supporters in the stands, for whom all the relevant information is available here. The match will be broadcast live on DAZN. As usual, Union will also provide information on the match on the club's own live ticker as well as offering updates in English on Twitter.