1. FC Union Berlin - Capital Domination

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Mustafi joins Real Madrid in Mammoth Deal

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1. FC Union Berlin have today announced that they have sold centre back Shkodran Mustafi to Spanish giants Real Madrid for an initial fee in the region of £44,000,000, however that fee could rise to £57,000,000 if all conditions for potential add ons are met.

It is believed that Berlin received £25,000,000 up front and will receive £19,000,000 over the next 12 months. If Mustafi makes a further 10 appearances for the German national side, Union will be due £6,250,000. If Mustafi makes 50 league appearances for Madrid then Berlin will receive the same amount. They will also receive £300,000 per his first 10 appearances for Real Madrid.

Speaking in the aftermath of his side's 3-1 win away to Eintracht Frankfurt, Union manager Scott Houghton commented 'we never went into the window with any intentions of selling Shkodran however the financial offer that Madrid put on the table was simply too good to turn down. We understand that the decision may not be popular amongst fans however we do have a couple of young German center backs who we are looking to bring in to replace Shkodran and his departure will also afford us the opportunity to give more game time to young Leandro Yepes who I believe has all the makings of a world class defender'. Houghton would not be drawn on who exactly he was looking at bringing into the club but we believe that he has made contact with both FC Koln and Hamburg over Nils Weber and Jonathan Tah.

Next update will be the August review, can we bring in anyone to replace Mustafi?
​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
August - 2019

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Transfers:

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So after selling Mustafi we had to go and replace him with another German center back in order to meet the German quota. The one player I really wanted was FC Koln wonderkid Nils Weber. They were very reluctant to sell him so I did have to massively overpay for him considering his current ability, however if he reaches his potential then he probably will be well worth his transfer fee. Another thing I've realized is that if I want to bring in the top young German talent from other clubs I am probably going to have to pay over the top. My way of justifying the deal is that we still made a profit over the two deals and we have a player for a lot longer on less wages! Also, if you look at the direct comparison between the two, Weber is already as good as Mustafi defensively, aerially and physically but lacks a bit mentally and speed wise compared to Mustafi.

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Fixtures:

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4 wins from 4 Bundesliga games as well as a 3-0 win in the cup against lower league opposition which I forgot to put in the screenshot. 10 goals scored and just 2 goals conceded, I'm very content with the start we have made!

League Table:

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Only Schalke have managed to match our 100% start to the season, however Bayern aren't far behind on 10 points and we got to Munich to play them in our next game.

Player of the Month - Torsten Schroder

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If Weber turns out to be half as good as what this lad has been then he'll be well worth the money!
4 goals from 4 league games so far, it seems no defender in the Bundesliga enjoys playing against Torsten!

Player Stats:

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The usual suspects in Kimmich, Brandt and Fofana have been impressing early on. Muller has made a very decent start to his time here in Germany in terms of performance, however he'll hopefully make more direct contributions to goals in the coming months.

Other News:

1) Our affiliation with 1860 Munchen was cut after they got promoted, so we now have a new feeder team in Eintracht Braunschweig. I've loaned them Moses Addo who was player of the season in the German 3rd tier last year, so it'll be interesting to see how he does with the step up.

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2) Our Champions League group has been drawn and we have drawn PSG, Zenit and Maccabi Haifa. We can't seem to avoid Zenit as this is the third year in a row we have drawn them. Also will be an interesting tie against PSG as they have two of our ex players in Ocampos and Correa (they sold Hazard for £9,500,000 this summer to CSKA).

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That update seemed to take forever to write. Next update may be a live update for the league game vs Bayern or may just be a September update...​
 
Hahaha, I love the Malcom deal mate, had me smiling from ear to ear!
 

1.FC Union Berlin
September - 2019

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Fixtures:

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We had a difficult month this month with away games against both Bayern and Dortmund and we lost both games. It really didn't help that we got red cards in both games to centre backs, however it didn't really affect us in the Dortmund game as we were already 2-0 down whereas it was 0-0 at the time in the Bayern game. We did manage to beat Leverksuen 3-1 and home with Schroder bagging a brace and we also won our first Champions League game away in Russia 2-0 against Zenit thanks to goals from Brandt and Malcom.

League Table:

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Down in 4th but there is a long way to go and we're only 3 points behind leaders Schalke. We've already lost more games this season than we did in the entirety of last season!

Player of the Month - Julian Brandt

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Very good performances in the two wins this month from the left winger.

Player Stats:

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Seko Fofana, whilst not performing badly, has not quite hit the heights of his performances of last season. Nils Weber got injured in his first game for the club and was ruled out for 4-5 weeks.

Other News:

1) Unfortunately as I predicted last year, Serge Gnabry was selected by the Ivory Coast national side for a friendly. He still eligible for the German national team since it was only a friendly but since he is likely to make a competitive appearance soon I decided to sell him for £9,000,000 to Watford. To replace him and ensure I still had 16 German national team eligible players I decided to bring in Gaudino from Leipzig for an initial £7,000,000 with £800,000 extra after 50 league appearances. Both deals will go through on the first of January.

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Next update will be an October review...​
 
**** you Bayern and Dortmund!!!! Sorry, just having flashbacks...
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Oktober - 2019

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Fixtures:

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A pretty awful month for us in the league as we only take 4 points from 3 league games from which I expected 9, however we were fantastic in other competitions. The draw at home to Hoffenheim came courtesy of an 81st minute equalizer and the defeat in Bremen came courtesy of a 93rd minute winner from ex-loanee from my first season in charge Martyn Kobylanski. In the Champions League we put in our best ever performance in the competition, smashing French giants PSG 4-0 at home and then winning 4-0 in Isreal against Maccabi Haifa. In the German Cup we progressed through a 2nd round tie away to Hamburg with a 5-1 away win with a hatrick from Malcom and a brace from Weber.

League Table/Champions League Group:

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We're looking very good in the Champions League but we've fallen 5 points behind Schalke and Bayern in the race for the Bundesliga title. We're not playing any worse than last season but maybe the extra pressure of being champions is affecting our results.

Player of the Month - Torsten Schroder

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Was hard to pick someone this month but Schroder scored 5 goals and got 3 goal in the 2 key Champions League wins.

Player Stats:

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Weber has had an interesting start to life in Berlin. Injured in his first game, sent off in his 2nd and 2 goals from centre back in his third! Malcom is doing well as a backup striker but one of my main concerns is a lack of goals or assists from right winger Muller.

Other News:

1) For some reason we are now playing home Champions League group stage games at the Olympiastadion. In previous years it was only the knockout games which were played there but I'm not complaining as our stadium only has 7,000 seats with the rest standing, so our Champions League group stage attendances were terrible. We broke both our attendance and gate receipt record against PSG with a crowd of 74,244 which makes it all the more annoying that our new stadium next year only has a capacity of 35,000.

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Next update will be a November update, can we pick up our league form and attempt to continue our push to top the Champions League group...
​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
November - 2019

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Fixtures:

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A much better month for us as we win all 4 of our league games, scoring 15 goals and conceding just 1 in the process. The highlight of the league games was seeing Torsten Schroder put 4 past 1860 Munchen! In the Champions League we beat Maccabi Haifa comfortably 3-0 before a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Zenit.

League Table/Champions League Group:

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5 points behind Bayern in the league and 1 point behind Dortmund. In the Champions League we are through but need a draw away in Paris to secure top spot.

Player of the Month - Marvin Muller

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2 goals, 6 assists and 2 man of the matches this month in the breakout month for the Frenchman, much better form and hopefully he can maintain this form.

Player Stats:

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My 2 big young German signings over the past couple of seasons are topping the average ratings which is nice to see, with Schroder averaging over a goal a game. Brandt has also been very good this season with 10 goals and 7 assists in 21 starts.

Next update will be a December review, who will we be drawn to meet in the 1st knockout round of the Champions League and can we close the gap at the top to Bayern?

​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Dezember - 2019

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Fixtures:

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A mainly solid month was ruined by a home defeat to top 4 rivals Schalke. Once again it was another poor result in a game which we controlled and it is starting to worry me that we seem to be struggling against our main competitors this year. We did beat Freiburg and Stuttgart easy enough though and put 4 past Augsburg in advancing into the German Cup 1/4 final. The highlight of the month was easily our 1-0 win in Paris courtesy of a Schroder goal in the 71st minute, meaning we top our group and should get a better draw in the 1st knockout round.

League Table/Champions League Group:

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2 points behind Dortmund and 4 points behind Bayern, we will need to have a better 2nd half of the season if we intend on retaining our title! This was by far our best Champions League group performance so far this year, taking 16 points from the 6 games with a GD of +14.

Player of the Month - Julain Korb

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The German right back was an ever present in the back 4 which only conceded 1 goal this month.

Other News:

1) Well our plan to win the group and get an easier Champions League draw did not come to fruition, as we are drawn against Barcelona who finished behind Arsenal in their group.

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2) One thing I am slightly worried about is the fact that the potential of pretty much everyone in my youth team has dropped. I understand the star ratings may drop with the increased quality but there's a few players who have went from a 'leading Bundesliga or star Bundesliga' potential to simply a good Bundesliga player potential.

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Next up will be a January update. I can't imagine we'll see much transfer activity but it depends if we receive any big offers for our players...​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Januar- 2020

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Transfers:

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2 permanent incoming signings and 2 permanent departures. I've already covered the Gnabry/Gaudino deals, however we also chose to let go of Matthias Ginter after negotiating a Real Madrid offer up from £9,000,000 to £25,000,000. We replaced him with Atletico centre back Rudiger who, although my scouts don't rate him quite as highly as Ginter, I believe is every bit as good as Ginter and we made £19,500,000 over the two deals. We also made a £17,750,000 profit on the fee we brought Ginter into the club for. Finally we let a few youth players go out on loan to experience some first team football in the 2nd half of the season...

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Fixtures:

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Just the two games and a respectable 4 points in return. The away game against Wolfsburg was pretty even in all fairness and either team could have took all 3 points with better finishing. We then managed to comfortably dispatch Frankfurt 4-0 at home a few days later, with goals from Schroder, Fofana, Malcom and Stafylidid.

Other News:

1) Julian Brandt became the first ever Union Berlin player to make it into the World Team of the Year! Also, Torsten Schroder became the club's first ever winner of the European Golden Boy award. I must say I did expect him to win it but it was nice to see it confirmed!

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Next update will be a February review, including the first leg of our CL 1st knockout round tie against Barcelona and a home league match against Bayern Munchen!​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Februar - 2020

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Fixtures:

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A very, very good month domestically for us as we win 5 and draw 1 of our 6 Bundesliga games this season and progress past 1860 Munchen in the German Cup Quarter Final. Most importantly we beat title rivals Bayern 3-1 at home and then beat another title rival Dortmund in the following league game 4-2 at home. The big disappointment this month is that we look to be once again heading out of the Champions League at the 1st knockout round stage after losing 2-0 in Barcelona. The tie is not completely dead but I can't see us keeping a clean sheet at home in all honesty and if they score 1 we'll need 4.

League Table:

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For the first time this season (I think) we are top! Bayern and Schalke are chasing closely behind us though, so we can't afford any slip ups as we head into the final 9 games of the season.

Player of the Month - Joshua Kimmich

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Our captain scored 3 goals in the 2 games against Bayern and Dortmund and just generally lead by example when we needed him!

Player Stats:

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I'm very happy with the performances of record signing Nils Weber, averaging a 7.54 after 17 starts as a 20 year old. Another Summer signing in Marvin Muller has been fantastic over the last few months of the season and is already comfortably the best right winger we've had in terms of output so far.

Youth Intake:

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This intake was pretty decent in my opinion with one obvious stand out. Demir has the potential to be a leading Bundesliga left back and could become our first choice somewhere down the line if he meets that potential. I also like the look of the goalkeeper and the left winger, although their potentials aren't as high.

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Next up will be a March update!

​
 
Back on top mate - congrats!! Stick it to Bayern!!! Also Demir looks like he might be a very good player for you!
 
Yeti01 said:
Back on top mate - congrats!! Stick it to Bayern!!! Also Demir looks like he might be a very good player for you!
Click to expand...

Hopefully his potential doesn't just randomly drop by a star or two half way through next season like it normally seems to happen to my youth players haha
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Marz - 2020

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Fixtures:

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We've obviously been watching a lot of Rhys Burnett's Tottenham side (see http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...stories/305491-who-rhys-burnett-story-45.html for reference)as we've been going goal crazy in the league this month with 13 goals in 3 league wins this month! In the Bremen game a Schroder hatrick propelled us to a 5-0 half time lead but we couldn't add any second half goals which was annoying.

We also exited the Champions League after a 1-1 home draw to Barcelona. Not the best Champions League run but we got a hard draw and improved our group stage performance.

League Table:

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Still top obviously after the 3 wins and we sit 2 points ahead of Bayern, 4 ahead of Dortmund and 6 ahead of Schalke with all 4 teams still to play 6 games.

Player of the Month - Julian Brandt

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5 goals in 4 games from the left winger as our front 3 started to create all sorts of havoc!

Player Stats:

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Schroder is more than justifying his tag of European Golden Boy with 30 goals and 15 assists in 25 starts in that lone striker role. He has now broke the record for most goals in a season by a Union Berlin player. Captain Kimmich is having his best season in a Union shirt in terms of goals, assists and average rating. I would like to see a bit more out of Seko Fofana though given his performance last season and therefore what I know he is capable of.

Next up will be the April update, can we continue our push towards the league title and the German Cup?
​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
April - 2020

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Fixtures:

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Not a great month as we dropped some pivotal points in the league. We started April as we finished March with a comfortable home win over Augsburg however we then travelled to Munich the following week to take on bottom side 1860 and we just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net despite having 23 shots and 12 of them being on target, with the game finishing 0-0. A similar performance in the next game against FC Koln in the German Cup semi followed but we were lucky enough to scrape through on penalties. We got our act together a few days later and put 5 past Koln in the league on the way to a 5-1 win. However, we dropped points again on the final match day of the month albeit in a much tougher game away to Schalke. We really pushed for a winner in the last 20 minutes as they tired due to having played a Champions League semi final in the midweek against Real Madrid, but just couldn't score.

League Table:

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The draw against 1860 allowed Bayern to pull level on points with us and the draw with Schalke allowed them to jump 2 points above us, meaning we will now have to rely on Bayern dropping points in their final 2 games to have a chance at retaining our title.

Player of the Month - Nils Weber:

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3 clean sheets this month with the young German at the heart of the defence.

Player Stats:

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Only the 1 goal from Schroder this month and I'm wondering whether that is the effect of not having a backup striker I feel comfortable replacing him with when he's tired.

Other News:

1) I took the time to hire a few extra coaches this month, leaving our training set up looking like this...

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If we're still in with a shot at the title on the final day then I will do a final day live update for the next update...​
 
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2019/2020 Final Day Title Battle - Live Updates

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After a 4-0 win at home last week to Freiburg with 4 goals from Torsten Schroder, FC Union Berlin head into the final day 2 points behind leaders Bayern Munchen. Union head to 9th place Stuttgart today, whilst Bayern head to Hannover 96 who they beat 6-0 at home in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.




KICK OFF - The games in Hannover and Stuttgart are both under way. Berlin will be hoping for an early goal to put pressure on Bayern.


1 - A couple of early chances here for Berlin as Rode and Brandt see efforts turned away by Langerak.


3 - Union should be 1-0 up here as Schroder has a week effort from 6 yards turned behind for a corner.


16 - GOAL - Union Berlin take the lead at Stuttgart with Sule's 4th goal of the season. As Munchen are still drawing 0-0 at Hannover, Union have jumped to the top of the league as we speak.


31 - GOAL - 2-0 here in Stuttgart to Berlin as a deep cross from Korb was turned in at the back post by Brandt. Bayern are still drawing 0-0 at Hannover.


32 - Union Berlin miss a great chance to make it 3 as Marvin Muller misses a penalty from 6 yards out.


36 - GOAL - It is 3 now as Torsten Schroder's 36th goal of the season in all competitions extends Berlin's lead.


HALF TIME - As things stand Berlin are heading towards retaining their Bundesliga title but one goal from Bayern Munchen at Hannover will change all that. The Berlin fans will likely spend 90% of the second half checking their phones as opposed to watching the action in the pitch!


53 - Stuttgart thought they had pulled one back here but one time Berlin target Wenzel was in an offside position when he received the ball.


61 - A sharp save from Berndt Leno to deny Stuttgart. Still scoreless in Hannover as we stand.


67 - GOAL - That's 37 in all competitions this season for Schroder as he makes it 4.


82 - Around 10 minutes to go here and there's no change in the scores as it stands. Can Hannover hold out and hand the title to Berlin?


84 - GOAL - But it doesn't change much as it's just a consolation goal for Stuttgart from Aigner.


FULL TIME - Full time here in Stuttgart but we're still waiting for confirmation of the result from Hannover...


FULL TIME - News of the game in Hannover ending has sent the away end here in Stuttgart into raptures. FC Union Berlin have retained their Bundesliga title on the final day of the season in nerve wrenching fashion!


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Next update will be a live update of the German Cup final. Constantly pausing the game during the final day of the season to write this update was not good for my nerves at all! XD

​
 
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FC Schalke 04 vs 1. FC Union Berlin
German Cup Final - 2020

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KICK OFF - Schalke get us underway here at a packed Olympiastadion in Berlin. Both sides are at full strength and the bookies make league Champions Berlin slight favourites ahead of Champions League finalists Schalke, who may have one eye on that final next week.

14 - It's been a cagey start to the game but Schroder has just had the first chance for Berlin, turning on the edge of the box and driving a powerful shot towards goal which is pushed away by Fahrmann.

15 - It's now Schalke's turn to test the keeper as Viktor Fischer bursts into the box and attemps to put the ball in the bottom left hand corner, only for Leno to save and hold onto the ball.

20 - Another chance for Fischer this time from close range. He should have done better but it's another relatively routine save from Leno.

35 - GOAL - Who else but that man Torsten Schroder? Julian Brandt brought the ball inside from the left and slotted the ball through to Schroder, who drove the ball low and hard past Schalke keeper Fahrmann. 1-0 to the recently crowned German champions!

36 - Nearly a quick reply from Schalke as Draxler grazes the bar with a free kick from 30 yards out.

HALF TIME - A relatively tight first half but Berlin got their goal to take a 1-0 lead into the second half. The next goal in this game will be crucial!

48 - An early chance to double their lead as captain Kimmich turns a free kick towards goal but Fahrmann makes a sharp save down low at his front post.

49 - GOAL - Just as Berlin coulf have made it 2, Schalke draw the game level. A swift counter attack saw Josip Drmic drive towards the Berlin box unchallenged and hit the ball off the post and in.

57 - Berlin have responded well to the equalizer and Julian Brandt has just seen a well struck shot turned round the post for a corner.

66 - A clever corner routine allows Fofana a shot at goal from the edge of the area, but his tamely hit strike is straight at Fahrmann. Still 1-1.

69 - Nearly a second brilliant goal from Drmic as he once again causes the Union defence issues with his direct running, but Leno covered his front post well and stopped Schalke taking the lead.

74 - GOAL - Union retake the lead! Seko Fofana met a Marvin Muller corner and his effort was pushed back into play by Fahrmann, where substitute Rode was waiting to put the ball in the empty net. Can Schalke respond?

FULL TIME - Just a week after retaining their Bundesliga title, German champions Union Berlin have retained the German Cup with a 2-1 win over Schalke. This is not exactly the preparation that Schalke will have wanted ahead of their Champions League Final next week against Chelsea.

Next update may be a season review post or I may just skip straight ahead to the season preview for my 6th season in charge, which will be the first in our new stadium!
​
 
Wooooooo hoooooo!!!! Congratulations on beating Bayern again! Sorry mate missed the last couple of updates pumping out my posts.

Thanks for the shoutout and my that coaching setup looks like you will be having success for a long time now!!!
 
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