Union Berlin and Ajax Amsterdam start from scratch

The first leg between Union Berlin and Ajax Amsterdam ended 0-0. The Berliners will certainly be more satisfied with this initial situation than the guests. At the old Försterei they now have the chance in front of their own fans to secure entry into the round of 16. The team, which is certainly of lower quality, is therefore also slightly favored

The Ironers have had an outstanding season so far and have managed to perform above their level in both the Bundesliga and the Europa League. In the duel against Ajax Amsterdam you are actually the clear outsider, if you look at the quality of the two squads. But this has no meaning at all for Union this year, they have shown this many times before. 

In the first leg in Ajax they also showed a selfless performance and fought for a very good starting position with the 0-0. However, Ajax still have good chances of promotion, after all, a narrow 0-1 success would be enough for them. As a team with plenty of international experience, it would definitely be a big disappointment if we were eliminated. The pressure is therefore more on the opponent.

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Union Berlin analysis

The Berliners are still unbeaten in 2023 but need to score again in the second leg against Ajax Amsterdam. After two 0-0 draws in a row, Union Berlin is currently in a small offensive crisis. In the previous 6 games in 2023, you were always responsible for at least 2 goals.Now you have to call up your offensive potential again, because to make it into the round of 16 they need at least one goal against Ajax Amsterdam. At the weekend they couldn't get more than 0-0 at home against Schalke. But you remained unbeaten in the 4th home game this year. In general, Union Berlin only had to admit defeat once at home this year and that was against Union Saint Gilloise. The game against the Belgians was lost on September 8th, 2022.

Union has done the bare minimum in the Europa League. The hosts played a good group phase and, as 2nd in group D, secured entry into the KO phase. With SC Braga, Union Saint Gilloise and Malmö they had anything but easy opponents. The first two games were lost and the team already had their backs to the wall. Coach Urs Fischer managed the turnaround and then got 4 wins in a row. Each group game was won by a tight 1:0. After the 6th matchday, the goal difference was only 4:2.With a 2-point lead over SC Braga, it was enough for second place. Together with Real Sociedad, they are the team that conceded the fewest goals in the Europa League.

Union Berlin is no less successful in the Bundesliga. Together with Bayern and Dortmund they currently have 43 points . The championship is still completely open and an international starting place is almost certain with 13 points. With 4 wins from the last 5 games, they are also one of the most in-form teams in the league. They also have the fewest defeats of any team behind Bayern. A look at the goal difference shows that this is mainly due to the defensive. With only 24 goals conceded in 21 games, they are also number 2 behind Bayern.At home at the old Försterei, no team conceded fewer goals than Union. They are also the only team that is undefeated at home. They won 7 out of 10 home games. Only once did they concede more than one goal.

We're expecting a much different starting XI compared to the 0-0 draw against Schalke at the weekend. In this game, Urs Fischer rotated quite a bit and allowed Sheraldo Bercker and Josip Juranovic, among others, to take a break. With 7 goals, Becker is still the top scorer in the Iron Team.Diogo Leite is still ill in central defense. However, he could recover in time and be available for the Ajax game. Otherwise, Union Berlin has so far been spared major injuries. How well the team works collectively is also shown by the fact that 5 players were able to score 4 or more goals. By the way, Christopher Trimmel is the most successful assist provider in his team with 5 assists. We present you more information about the Ironers in the Union Berlin betting tips .

Ajax analysis

Ajax is certainly more experienced internationally than their opponents. In recent years they have achieved remarkable things in international business. They reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in the 2018/19 season. After all, last year they made it to the round of 16. In the Europa League they were in the final in 2017 and 2 years ago they were in the quarter-finals where they lost to AS Roma.Being eliminated in the intermediate round would be quite a surprise for the Dutch series champion. But given the season so far, you shouldn't expect too much. After the change of coach things seem to be going uphill again at the moment. They now want to prove this in the Europa League.

Unlike their opponents, Ajax started their international season this year in the Champions League. There they had two strong opponents with FC Liverpool and SSC Naples, which is why it was ultimately only enough for 3rd place. They lost 4 out of 6 group games, only the two games against Glasgow Rangers could be won.The defensive in particular was vulnerable in these group games. 16 goals conceded in just 6 games are clearly too many for a top team. On average, this is almost 3.00 goals conceded per game. On the other hand, the team was convincing in attack and scored 11 goals. Only in the home game against Liverpool did they not score. Each of these group games therefore ended with more than 2.5 goals.

Only at the beginning of the year did the club decide to change coaches. Alfred Schreuder did not live up to the demands and the club threatened to miss the goals of the season. Things are going a lot better under Johnny Heitinga. After 6 games under his management they are still undefeated, they celebrated 5 wins and conceded only 2 goals in total. With 17 goals, they were also responsible for almost 3.00 goals per game on average. Thanks to these performances, they fought their way back up to 2nd place in the table. They are only 2 points behind leaders Feyenoord.

Ajax regularly manages to score points away from home. In the league this year, the team is almost easier off the road than in their own stadium. In the away table, the team is still on the good 2nd place behind Alkmaar. They were able to win 7 of 11 away games , only losing once. With 29 goals you even have the best offensive here. They have scored at least one goal in every away game so far. By the way, their only away defeat was against Alkmaar on the 7th matchday. Since then they have remained unbeaten for 7 away games in a row . The last one ended with a 0:5 win against Cambuur-Leeuwarden. They even scored 9 goals in the last two away games.

Union Berlin - Ajax: What to expect? 

It's extremely difficult to pick a winner. Union Berlin is simply a force at home and hard to beat. However, Ajax are making good progress under the new coach and certainly have more quality in their squad. We could therefore imagine the game ending again in a draw and overtime. The good defense of the hosts is the reason why we would at least bet on less than 2.5 goals .

• Draw X
• Under 2.5

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.