Union Berlin ended their losing streak and claimed their first-ever point in the Champions League on Wednesday after escaping against Napoli with a 1-1 draw on a day of fan tensions in southern Italy.
Matteo Politano gave Napoli the lead in the 39th minute but David Datro Fofana, who is on loan from Chelsea, leveled seven minutes after the break with his first goal in almost a year to prevent Union from falling to a 13th straight loss in all competitions.
Union stay bottom of Group C, six points behind second-placed Napoli who remained second in Group C, two points behind Real Madrid, which played Braga later.
Braga was four points behind Napoli and two ahead of Union after the German team recorded its first point in this season’s Champions League.
No more words. Just…EISERN UNION!!!! pic.twitter.com/EE77pu7QQP— 1. FC Union Berlin (English) (@fcunion_en) November 8, 2023
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“We’ll take a very important point, but we can’t rest on our laurels,” Union defender Leonardo Bonucci told Sky Sport in Italy.
“We conceded a really unfortunate goal… it kind of summed up what we’ve been going through. But we reacted really well as a team.
Napoli was still without standout forward Victor Osimhen but had won three of its four matches since he got injured.
Napoli scored six minutes from halftime in somewhat fortunate circumstances as Mário Rui’s cross took a deflection off a Union player and hit Politano’s face to ricochet in from close range.
Union almost leveled with the last kick of the half, seven minutes into stoppage time, but Josip Juranović’s free kick hit the base of the left post.
The German team didn’t have to wait long for the equalizer as Napoli was caught out on the counterattack early in the second half.
David Fofana gets the rebound to put Union Berlin level against Napoli ⚽️Union Berlin’s first goal in 32 days! pic.twitter.com/wZkK4oDBAi
— Chelsea Loan Army (@ChelseaIoanArmy) November 8, 2023
Fofana raced forward onto a long ball and then squared it to Sheraldo Becker. His attempt was superbly parried by Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret, but Fofana tucked away the rebound.
It was his first club goal since scoring for Molde on Nov. 13 last year.
“We should have managed our lead better. We weren’t in position, so we were caught by the counter-attack,” said Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo to Sky.
“We have to take the draw but it’s a shame as I think we definitely deserved the win. But qualification is still on.”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - Associated Press)