BERLIN (AP) — Leipzig beat Union Berlin 3-1 in the Bundesliga on Friday, handing coach Marie-Louise Eta her second loss in charge after being accused of sexism in a social media post.
Leipzig consolidated their third place with goals from Max Finkgrafe, Romulo and Riddle Baku and moved closer to qualifying for the Champions League with a fifth straight win.
Eta is First female Bundesliga manager — or any of the top divisions of Europe’s five biggest men’s leagues — lost 2-1 at home to relegation-threatened Wolfsburg last weekend.
She has been the subject of a barrage of sexist slurs on social media, and was accused of complicity on Thursday when Eta replied to X’s post about Union’s club being a “nice city” with the words: “Not only does your head coach think this city is very nice…” alongside a photo of her posing with former Leipzig manager Marco Rose and former players Dominik Szoboszlai and Emil Forsberg.
The photo was taken during Eta’s internship in Leipzig in 2022, and was first posted on Instagram by Eta on January 1, 2023.
Etta was Union’s under-19 boys coach. Appointed as head coach They will play the final five games of the season to ensure they remain in the Bundesliga. Union, who are six points clear of the relegation zone with 31 matches left, will face Cologne, Mainz and Augsburg in the next match.
“We knew it was going to be a tough road ahead, and we couldn’t expect to turn everything around overnight,” Eta said. “So for now I’m feeling positive. Today was good and bad and we’ll work on that. Next we play at home against Cologne and we want to get the three points.”
Another quiet start
like they always do Whenever their team plays in Leipzig Union fans refrained from singing and chanting for the first 15 minutes to protest the Red Bull-backed club’s presence. They see it as a trumped-up initiative whose raison d’être is marketing, after it was founded and funded by the energy drink giant in 2009.
They watched in silence as Leipzig got off to an eerie start. The home side could have scored more if Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow blocked shots from Antonio Nusa and Brazilian forward Romulo, and the rebound from the latter was cleared off the line by Andras Schäfer.
Finkgraeve scored the opening goal in the 22nd minute, to the cheers of the Union fans, when he curled Leopold Kuhlfeld’s headed clearance into the right post.
Romulo fended off a weak attack from Kjellfeld and scored after three minutes, but Union were dealt a further blow when Ronnow had to leave with an injury. After the kickout, the Danish goalkeeper signaled that the match could not continue. Karl Kraus replaced him, making his Bundesliga debut at the age of 32.
“It’s special,” Klaus said. He had to react instantly to hit Christoph Baumgartner’s header against the crossbar, but another shot close to goal went over the bar.
Oliver Burke should have scored on Union’s only chance before the end of the first half after a defensive error forced him out, but he was unable to get past Leipzig keeper Maarten Vandevoort.
The team improved after the break, but Etta made three changes around the hour mark, with Yann Diomande only setting up Baku for the third.
Danilo Doek gave Union a comfortable victory with a header into the corner in the 77th minute, while substitute Ilyas Ansah thought he had added another goal in stoppage time but had it ruled out for offside.
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