Five years ago Union Berlin were playing in the German second tier. On Wednesday they make their Champions League debut at Real Madrid.
"Wahnsinn - it means crazy, mad, incredible. All those things in one word."
They are the first side from Berlin to play in Europe's elite competition since the traditionally larger Hertha did so in 1999-2000. This season Hertha are in the second tier, looking up at their noisy neighbours. "Compared to manufactured clubs like Leipzig and factory teams like Wolfsburg, Union have shown a traditional way to success, which is not just about spending money. We are not a cult club - just a club which has entrenched itself in its community."
"The squad planning has been meticulous. Ruhnert found a lot of players which Fischer saw the possibility to develop."'Terror football from Kopenick' "Pragmatic, realistic and well executed," he says. "There are not a lot of clubs in Germany which have been run well in the last 10 years. Bayern and Leipzig maybe, with an attacking playing philosophy to admire. Union has developed their own brand of that - hard to beat football, with maximum effect."
"Commercially the club will do very well," says Wilson. "You can have 40,000 season-ticket holders at the stadium. Then there will be fascinated neutrals, maybe people who couldn't get to a game before." None is more eye-catching, however, than Leonardo Bonucci. The 36-year-old multiple Serie A champion and Euro 2020-winning captain made Union his first club outside Italy when joining from Juventus this summer.
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