Leipzig beats Union Berlin and deals trailblazing coach Marie-Louise Eta another defeat

BERLIN (AP) — After being accused of sexism for a social media post, Leipzig defeated Union Berlin 3-1 in the Bundesliga on Friday and dealt coach Marie-Louise Eta her second defeat in as many games in charge.

Max Finkgrafe, Romulo and Ridle Baku scored for Leipzig to consolidate third place and move closer to Champions League qualification after five straight wins.

Eta made her debut as the first female coach in the Bundesliga — or any of the top divisions in Europe’s big five men’s leagues — last weekend in a 2-1 loss at home to relegation-threatened Wolfsburg.

She’s been the subject of a torrent of sexist abuse on social media and Leipzig was accused of joining in on Thursday when it responded to a post on X from Union saying it was a “nice city” with photos of Eta posing with former Leipzig coach Marco Rose and former players Dominik Szoboszlai and Emil Forsberg with the words, “Your head coach didn’t just find the city pretty nice...”

The photos were from Eta’s internship at Leipzig in 2022, and Eta initially posted them herself on Instagram on Jan. 1, 2023.

Eta, who was Union’s men’s under-19s coach, was appointed head coach for the last five games of the season to secure Bundesliga survival. Union, which is six points above the relegation zone before the rest of the 31st round, next faces Cologne, Mainz and Augsburg.

“We knew it would continue to be a tough path ahead, that we couldn’t expect to turn everything around overnight,” Eta said. “So I’m feeling positive for now, because there were things today that were OK, things that were good, and we’ll work on those. Next up is Cologne at home, where we want to get the three points.”

Another silent start

As they always do whenever their team plays in Leipzig against the Red Bull-backed club, Union’s fans refrained from singing and chanting for the first 15 minutes to protest against its existence. They see it as a manufactured endeavor with marketing as its raison d’être after it was formed and bankrolled by the energy drinks giant in 2009.

They watched in silence as Leipzig made an ominous start. The home team should have scored more with Union goalkeeper Frederik Rønnow denying Antonio Nusa and Brazilian forward Romulo, and Andras Schafer clearing the rebound from the latter off the line.

Finkgräfe opened the scoring in the 22nd minute — when the Union fans were in full voice — by thumping Leopold Querfeld’s attempted headed clearance inside the right post.

Romulo shrugged off Querfeld’s weak challenge to score three minutes later, and Union suffered another blow when Rønnow had to go off injured. The Danish goalkeeper signaled he couldn’t continue after a kickout. Carl Klaus replaced him for his Bundesliga debut at 32 years of age.

“It's special,” said Klaus, who had to react straight away to deflect Christoph Baumgartner’s header against the crossbar, then fished another near-goal off and over the bar.

Oliver Burke should have scored before the break with Union’s only chance of the half when he was through after a defensive mistake, but failed to get past Leipzig ’keeper Maarten Vandevoordt.

Though her team improved after the break, Eta made three changes around the hour mark, only for Yan Diomande to set up Baku for the third.

Danilho Doekhi scored Union’s consolation with a header to a corner in the 77th, and substitute Ilyas Ansah thought he scored another in stoppage time only to have it ruled out for offside.

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