Union trailed twice and still went through
Marin Ljubicic came off the bench and scored twice. Union Berlin needed both. The Bundesliga side beat Eintracht Braunschweig 4-2 in Braunschweig this afternoon after falling behind twice in the first round of the German Cup.
Max Marie caused most of the trouble. He opened the scoring on 11 minutes, taking a cross, turning his marker and drilling a low finish past Matheo Raab. He made it 2-1 on 54 minutes with a one-two involving Entrup and the same flat, hard shot into the corner. Raab had no chance on either.
Braunschweig play in the second division. For an hour they were the better team.
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Two corners, two equalisers
Union’s route back both times ran through Juranovic and a corner flag. His delivery on 31 minutes found Zeno van den Bosch, a new signing, who won his header for 1-1. His corner on 63 minutes bounced off Ljubicic to Tom Rothe, who made it 2-2.
Set pieces kept a Bundesliga club in a tie it was losing on open play. That is worth noting ahead of a league season where Union will face plenty of sides content to sit deep.
Ljubicic finishes the job
The winner arrived on 72 minutes and owed something to luck. Union broke, Braunschweig keeper Hoffmann got a hand to the shot but pushed it towards Ljubicic’s head, and the striker nodded it in before anyone reacted. Braunschweig threw players forward for the remaining 20 minutes and got nothing. Ljubicic added the fourth in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Elsewhere on Sunday afternoon the gaps held. Mainz won 9-0 at fifth-tier Krieschow, Borussia Moenchengladbach won 5-0 at TSV Schott Mainz, Dynamo Dresden won 6-0 at Westfalia Rhynern and Magdeburg won 4-0 at Bahlinger SC. Darmstadt had the closest call of the six, edging Carl Zeiss Jena 2-1 after Elias Soeder equalised with a volley from 35 metres.
Union move into round two with a scoreline that flatters them.
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