Union Berlin troubled over ‘desolate and dismal’ Bundesliga performance against Heidenheim

Union Berlin troubled over ‘desolate and dismal’ Bundesliga performance against Heidenheim

Union Berlin trainer Steffen Baumgart found himself in a very different mood than last week after Saturday’s Bundesliga loss to last-placed Heidenheim. Squad captain Rani Khedira also condemned the team’s performance, which featured an unfortunate tantrum from Scottish striker Oliver Burke. Though Union are likely safe from relegation on 32 points with five matchdays remaining, the Heidenheim defeat highlighted plenty of worrying trends.

Heidenheim snapped a 15 match Bundesliga winless run against Union this weekend. The club just above Heidenheim in the second automatic relegation slot (Wolfsburg) saw their Bundesliga winless run extended to 12 matches courtesy of their latest defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt. Union host Wolfsburg next week. There may yet be hope for the German Wolves if Baumgart’s Eisernen cannot significantly improve upon what they delivered this round.

Traveling Union supporters to “wake up” when it came time to visit the guest block after the full-time whistle. Khedira – the team’s de-facto skipper whenever 39-year-old Christopher Trimmel isn’t on the pitch – referenced the chants from the FanKurve while speaking in the mixed zone. The 32-year-old took full responsibility for the disappointment of the traveling supporters of the club he represents

Rani Khedira blunt about Union Berlin’s game

“That was a dismal performance from us,” Khedira summarized. “It was desolate. We need to do better and pull ourselves together. We haven’t done very well this [2026 calendar] year. It’s time to stop overthinking things and get back to playing our football. We owe the fans a lot after the last weeks and months.“

Steffen Baumgart minces no words

“We’ll have to apologize for letting [Heidenheim’s] first two shots in,” Baumgart began in his opening statement at the post match press conference. “I have to admit that, after the first ten minutes, we totally failed to execute as we needed to. We couldn’t compete against Heidenheim on equal footing. We did absolutely nothing to be successful here today. Very disappointing.“

“We’re a simple and straightforward kind of team that knows exactly what we need to do in order to win games,” Baumgart answered when asked about how the team would prepare for Wolfsburg next week. “We didn’t do that today. If we don’t do it next week, things can prove even more difficult. Wolfsburg is a team with plenty of individual quality. We need to execute simple and clear directives.

“It’s not just one game,” Baumgart continued. “We’ve played a poor second half of the season and I take responsibility for that. It’s aggravating. I think last week’s performance was reasonable enough. It was [only one personnel change] basically the same team. The same team couldn’t deliver today. Again, I’m responsible. It’s not just this game. We’ve been doing a lot of things wrong.“

Baumgart tries to deflect Oliver Burke question

After celebrating a Bundesliga speed record last week, Scottish striker Oliver Burke was yanked by Baumgart in the 62nd minute. The 29-year-old – who still hasn’t scored for Union in either the 2026 calendar year or the second half of the season – was clearly displeased with the decision. Burke tore off his jersey and threw it onto the pitch.

“I think there are other topics for us to discuss now,” Baumgart responded. “Everyone knows that Olli is an emotional player and I’m generally satisfied with what he does. He tried to make things happen with his sprints and deep runs today. He did well. It’s not a good a good feeling to be the first player subbed off. That’s all it was. We don’t need to make anything more out of it.

“I’ll reiterate that Olli is a good player who can do a lot for us when he’s on the pitch,” Baumgart continued. “We failed to deliver as a team and as a collective today. I’ll kindly ask you to not make some sort of story out of this.“

GGFN | Peter Weis