Union Berlin tied Napoli and safeguarded their chances of participating in the spring European football competition thanks to a goal from David Fofana, ending a 12-game losing streak.
Fofana leveled the score seven minutes after the break with the Germans’ first significant opportunity from open play, but Matteo Politano gave the Italians a well-earned lead in the 39th minute following a one-sided first half.
Napoli is now in the second spot in Group C with seven points, two points behind leaders Real Madrid, who play Braga later on Wednesday, thanks to the draw.
“It’s the match we prepared,” declared match MVP Politano. “We just shouldn’t have let that equalizer.”
“We had opportunities to win, and we gave a strong performance. We have to keep playing this way and enter the next two games in the same mindset.”
Union, who had dropped their last 12 games across all competitions, including every group game they had played in their first Champions League experience, are bottom on a single point.
They may continue to put third and earn a spot in the Europa League even though they can no longer advance to the knockout stage.
Christopher Trimmel, a Union captain, remarked, “This feels really good.” “Your confidence diminishes faster the longer a losing streak continues. We had been sensing that.
We can hopefully gain some momentum from this performance in the upcoming weeks, but we still need to put in a lot of work because I know football well.”
The Germans were behind early on, and in the seventeenth minute, goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow made a great save to deny Piotr Zielinski’s shot.
When Natan’s header struck the woodwork in the 25th, the hosts were even closer, along with when Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa’s header noticed the net, they believed their dominance was finally paying off.
After an extended VAR review, his effort was ruled out for an earlier foul, and Napoli ended up with 70% of the control in the first half.
Before the half, they did manage to break the tie when Politano’s chest was hit by a deflected shot that found its way into the goal.
Union’s free kick by Josip Juranovic in stoppage time in the first half struck the post, and seven minutes into the second half, Fofana stunned the home crowd by scoring on the rebound, taking Napoli by surprise.
Despite late pressure and several opportunities, Napoli was unable to score again despite having 18 corners to the Germans’ 5.
