{"id":614257,"date":"2026-04-19T10:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T10:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614257\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T10:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T10:34:09","slug":"european-football-history-maker-etas-first-union-berlin-game-ends-in-defeat-european-club-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614257\/","title":{"rendered":"European football: History-maker Eta\u2019s first Union Berlin game ends in defeat | European club football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Marie-Louise Eta\u2019s landmark first match as interim head coach of Union Berlin ended in a 2-1 Bundesliga defeat at home to relegation-threatened Wolfsburg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The 34-year-old Eta made history on Saturday when she became the first woman to take charge of a men\u2019s team in one of the top five European leagues. Union Berlin, who turned to Eta for the rest of the season after sacking Steffen Baumgart last weekend, fell behind to an 11th-minute goal from Patrick Wimmer.<\/p>\n<p>A Union Berlin fan holds a placard that reads: \u2018Marie-Louise Eta Football Goddess UNVEU\u2019  Photograph: Clemens Bilan\/EPA<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Second-bottom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/wolfsburg\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wolfsburg<\/a> doubled their advantage a minute into the second half when Christian Eriksen set up Dzenan Pejcinovic, before the former Nottingham Forest forward Oliver Burke halved the deficit late on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Hoffenheim\u2019s Andrej Kramaric scored two penalties, including one deep in second-half stoppage time, to give the hosts a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund and gift the Bundesliga leaders, Bayern Munich, the chance to wrap up the title with a win or a draw over Stuttgart on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Dortmund are on 64 points with four matches left, while Bayern are 12 clear at the top and set to win their second successive league crown \u2013 though they will have to do it without the Germany forward Serge Gnabry, who could miss this summer\u2019s World Cup after tearing a muscle in his thigh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Dortmund were on the back foot throughout with Kramaric scoring a 42nd-minute penalty to give Hoffenheim a fully deserved lead. The visitors showed no signs of a comeback in the second half with Hoffenheim again in full control of the game, until Serhou Guirassy got the ball at the edge of the box and unleashed an unstoppable low drive to level.<\/p>\n<p>Hoffenheim\u2019s Andrej Kramaric scores a penalty \u2013 he struck twice from the spot \u2013 against Borussia Dortmund. Photograph: Uli Deck\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But Kramaric scored from the spot again in stoppage time, after a handball, to give the hosts the three points. Hoffenheim moved up to fifth place on 54, two behind fourth place, the last spot for a Champions League spot next season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Hamburg fans lit flares and fires in the stadium and clashed with police at the end of Werder Bremen\u2019s 3-1 win over their visiting northern rivals. With both teams battling to avoid the drop, tensions ran high on and off the pitch and Hamburg finished the game with 10 players. Both Hamburg\u2019s and Werder\u2019s assistant coaches were also sent off in stoppage time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Straight after the final whistle, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/hamburg\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hamburg<\/a> fans lit flares and fired projectiles across the pitch and into the stands of the home fans, while also lighting fires, before police moved in to clear the tribune, clashing with the visiting fans. Some of the flares flew not far from Werder players still on the pitch at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWhen boundaries are crossed, that doesn\u2019t belong on the football pitch,\u201d Werder coach Daniel Thioune, who has also coached Hamburg in the past, said at the post-match press conference. \u201cThe risk of injury was very high. I saw that some things hit the players next to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In Italy, Napoli\u2019s slim hopes of defending their Serie A league title all but ended with a 2-0 home defeat by Lazio that left them 12 points adrift of leaders Inter Milan with five games left. Inter, who beat Cagliari 3-0 on Friday, are on 78 points, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/napoli\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Napoli<\/a> on 66. Milan are three points behind before their game at Hellas Verona on Sunday and Lazio are ninth in the table on 47 points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Lazio took a sixth-minute lead through Matteo Cancellieri and could afford to spurn a penalty chance, with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic saving Mattia Zaccagni\u2019s spot-kick, before Toma Basic doubled their advantage 12 minutes after the break.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Lazio, managed by the former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, never looked like allowing a sluggish home side back into the game and came away victorious from the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona for the fourth successive season. Napoli were jeered off by their fans.<\/p>\n<p>Napoli keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic celebrates saving Mattia Zaccagni\u2019s penalty. Photograph: Carlo Hermann\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Roma drew 1-1 against coach Gian Piero Gasperini\u2019s former team Atalanta in a result that does little for either side\u2019s Champions League hopes. Gasperini was reduced to tears when talking about his nine years with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/atalanta\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Atalanta<\/a> in a press conference on Friday. It has been a difficult week for Gasperini after a very public disagreement with director, and former Roma coach, Claudio Ranieri.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Mario Hermoso\u2019s fantastic volley on the stroke of half-time canceled out Nikola Krstovic\u2019s opener for Atalanta. Hermoso almost snatched all three points for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/roma\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Roma<\/a> late on but his header bounced off the top of the crossbar. The result leaves Roma two points behind fourth-placed Juventus, who host Bologna on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Massimiliano Allegri, meanwhile, has said he is not interested in the vacant Italy job. The Milan coach was quickly linked with the job, alongside the Napoli coach, Antonio Conte, after Gennaro Gattuso stepped down this month. \u201cMy career speaks for itself: changing jobs often isn\u2019t part of my DNA,\u201d Allegri said before Sunday\u2019s Serie A fixture at Verona.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In France, Medhi Benatia, Marseille\u2019s sporting director, attacked the team\u2019s performance after a 2-0 loss at Lorient dealt a damaging blow to their hopes of Champions League football next season. Goals from Panos Katseris and Bamba Dieng secured victory for Lorient in Brittany and left <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/marseille\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marseille<\/a> in danger of losing further ground in the race for automatic Champions League qualification.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Habib Beye\u2019s team are a point behind third-placed Lille, who host Nice later on Saturday, and Marseille could also finish the weekend trailing Lyon and Rennes. Only the top three in France are guaranteed a spot in Europe\u2019s top club competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Benatia, who is leaving the club at the end of the season, tore into the players as Marseille lost for the third time in four matches, saying: \u201cI didn\u2019t plan on speaking again until the end of the year because I think we\u2019ve talked far too much over the first six months \u2026 but when I see the game we played today, even though I don\u2019t want to talk, I have to come before the press, because it\u2019s a scandal. It\u2019s a scandal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cYou\u2019re playing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/lorient\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lorient<\/a>, who have nothing left to play for, and you don\u2019t win a single duel, you don\u2019t make a single run forward, you\u2019re not proactive, you don\u2019t try anything, and you just watch them. In the stadium, they\u2019re doing the \u2018ol\u00e9\u2019 because they\u2019re nutmegging you, dribbling past you \u2026 Yep, that\u2019s the truth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cHow many [of our players] went into the dressing room afterwards and flipped over the table? Zero, nobody. Everything is spotless, the bottles are right where they belong, all that. So basically, you play for Marseille, you have a game like that, and you just accept it?\u201d Benatia fumed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In Spain, Real Sociedad goalkeeper Unai Marrero was the hero with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/apr\/18\/atletico-madrid-real-sociedad-copa-del-rey-final-match-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">two penalty saves in the shoot-out<\/a> to secure victory over Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marie-Louise Eta\u2019s landmark first match as interim head coach of Union Berlin ended in a 2-1 Bundesliga defeat&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-614257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}