Napoli 1-1 1. FC Union Berlin (8 Nov, 2023) Game Analysis - ESPN (UK)

Rewritten: The blog portion has been revised on November 8, 2023, at 9:07 in the evening.

On Wednesday, Union Berlin managed to score a goal in the second half of their Champions League match against Napoli, despite not being in control of the game. This allowed them to tie the game 1-1 and finally end their streak of 12 consecutive losses across various competitions. However, even with this victory, they are still eliminated from the Champions League as there are two more games left to play.

In the first half of the game, Matteo Politano scored a goal for the Italian team in the 39th minute, which was well-deserved as they dominated the game. However, the Germans managed to equalize the score in the second half after a break, when David Fofana got a chance to score their first goal of the game.

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Napoli ended up with a draw and now they are situated in the second spot of Group C, with a total of seven points. The current holder of the first spot is Real Madrid, who has two points more than Napoli. On a later schedule for Wednesday, Real Madrid will be dealing with Braga, who only have three points.

Politano, who was named the best player of the game, stated that the match had been planned out beforehand. However, he expressed regret about the fact that his team allowed the opposing team to score an equalising goal.

We were capable of winning as we had opportunities and our overall performance was impressive. It's important that we continue with the same motivation and approach for the upcoming two matches.

The Union team had a disappointing start in their first competition by losing all their group matches. This caused them to be at the bottom of the rankings with only one point. Unfortunately, they can no longer make it to the knockout stage. However, their hope is not lost as they still have the chance to finish in third place, which will qualify them for the Europa League.

Union captain Christopher Trimmel expressed his relief, stating, "It's a great feeling." The team had been experiencing a decrease in confidence due to their extended losing streak.

"I am hopeful that this display will provide us with some momentum in the upcoming weeks, however, my expertise in football has taught me that it is imperative that we continue to put in diligent effort."

Right from the beginning, the German team was feeling the pressure and their goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow made a remarkable save to prevent a shot by Piotr Zielinski in the 17th minute.

The team almost scored again in the 25th minute, but unfortunately Natan's header hit the crossbar. They believed they had finally earned a goal when Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa successfully headed the ball into the net.

Despite his hard work, his attempt was not counted due to a previous violation that was identified after an extensive analysis by VAR. Napoli had control of the ball 70% of the time in the opening half.

Before the first half ended, there was a breakthrough in the game as Politano unintentionally redirected a shot with his chest that landed into the goal.

During the first half, Union's Josip Juranovic attempted a free kick that hit the post. In the second half, Union surprised Napoli with a fast break. Fofana was able to score on the rebound, which surprised and disappointed the home crowd.

The team from Napoli was able to take 18 corners during their match against the German team who only had five corners. However, even though Napoli put on a lot of pressure towards the end of the game and had many opportunities to score, they were unable to do so.