By Charles Ofoji
Tim Starke grabbed a dramatic stoppage time equalizer for Union Berlin to deny visiting Eintracht Frankfurt what would have been a deserved victory in the first home game of the „Die Eisernen“ in the German Bundesliga to ensure that they did not start the season on a wrong footing.
Latte Emmanuel had shot Union into an early lead in the 4th minute on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and the vociferous home crowd were looking forward to a delightful season start when Frankfurt quickly cancelled the deficit within seven minutes through their attack arrowhead, Youness Ebnoutalib.
He made it 2-1 just before the Union players could regain composure to the dismay of the home crowd.
From that point Frankfurt, marshalled by midfield powerhouse Raphael Onyedika, left no one in doubt who was in charge.
The Nigerian international who joined Frankfurt from FC Brugge was making his Bundesliga debut.
Despite dominating the rest of the first half, Frankfurt appeared not interested in increasing the tally.
However, Franfurt profited from a defensive blunder in the 67th minute on resumption of play to make it 3-1 worse through a short range volley by Ebnoutalib for a brace.
Fired by a home crowd that appeared undaunted by the scoreline, Union pulled one back with a powerful header by Leopold Querfeld off a corner kick from the right flank.
With eleven minutes left, Onyedika seemed weakened by a needless yellow card, which reduced his support of a Frankfurt defence that suddenly became jittery.
Some Union fans were already leaving the stadium in added time when Starke flicked in the equalizer with the back heel to send the Alten Foersterei into a weekend frenzy.
– Charles Ofoji reported from the Alten Foersterei