That’s the number of paying spectators at yesterday’s Regionalliga Nord match 1. FC Magdeburg vs Union Berlin.
They saw one of the worst performances by the Magdeburg team, a catastrophic first half full of simple mistakes on both sides and a nil-all at halftime. This didn’t stop the atmosphere being one of the best yet in Magdeburg’s new stadium.
Apparently Dirk Heyne, Magdeburg’s manager, had told his team quite precisely what his opinion of their first half perfomance was, and so they came out of the break with renewed determination, with their first attack leading right to a corner kick.
Nothing came off it though, and then it was Berlin’s Nico Patschinski who crossed the ball into the penalty area from a freekick, where it found the head of Berlin’s 6’3 defender Daniel Schulz who had no problems at all with scoring.
In the next few minutes it did not at all look as if Magdeburg would be able to turn this result around, when Kais Manai fired a volley shot towards Union’s goal. Schulz‘ deflection made a save impossible and so Magdeburg equalised. Afterwards the hosts were frequently dangerous on counter-attacks through their fast forwards Kotuljac and Kullmann, and on one of those it was once again Daniel Schulz who could only stop Kotuljac with a foul – as he had already seen a yellow card, the ref had no choice but to send him off.
Now Magdeburg were the better team and the tide turned entirely in their favor. Only 6 minutes after the lead, Christopher Kullmann ended his dry spell with a wonderful header to make it 2-1 for Magdeburg.
With Union now attacking with a do or die mentality there was a lot of room for counter-attacks, but the fans had to wait until the 85th before Kukulies scored the third goal after a wonderful pass from Kotuljac.
The Facts:
1. FC Magdeburg 3 – 1 1. FC Union Berlin
50′ Daniel Schulz 0-1
63′ Manai 1-1
66′ Schulz 2nd Yellow
69′ Kullmann 2-1
85′ Kukulies 3-1
Att: 18,366