Sven Michel came off the bench to rescue a point for top-six hopefuls Union Berlin in their meeting with relegated Greuther Fürth.

Union Berlin 1-1 Greuther Fürth
Goals: 0-1 Hrgota (33'), 1-1 Michel (75')

Having been consigned to the second tier last time out, Fürth played with the pressure off for much of the first half. In an entertaining opening, former Borussia Dortmund youngster Tobias Raschl rattled the crossbar from 20 yards, before Taiwo Awoniyi sent a Christopher Trimmel cross into the side netting. Robin Knoche had just failed to make the most of a Niko Gießelmann delivery from the left, when Hrgota arrowed an unstoppable effort into the top corner from 12 yards to five Fürth the lead.

Awoniyi fluffed his lines again after the restart, with Grischa Prömel faring not much better on the rebound. Urs Fischer shuffled his pack with 20 minutes to go, and was rewarded almost instantly, albeit with a little help from Nick Viergever. The Greuther defender had his pockets picked by substitute Michel, who followed up his effort from the bench against RB Leipzig a week ago with a routine close-range finish for 1-1. Andreas Voglsammer lashed wide in the closing stages, leaving Union sixth with two games to go.

Match stats

• The game was the first fixture of the 2,000th match day of the Bundesliga era.
• Michel has scored three substitute goals since moving to Union from Paderborn in January.
• Fürth equalled their record Bundesliga tally of goals from 2012/13 (26).
• Genki Haraguchi made his 40th competitive appearance for Union.
• Union's club-record four-match winning run in the Bundesliga is over.
• Greuther are the only team without an away win in this season's Bundesliga (D4, L12).

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Teams

Union: Ronnow - Jaeckel, Knoche, Heintz (Ryerson 24') - Khedira - Trimmel (c), Haraguchi (Voglsammer 46'), Prömel, Gießelmann (Michel 70') - Becker (Öztunali 85'), Awoniyi (Behrens 70')
Unused subs: Luthe, Oczipka, Endo, Möhwald
Out: Baumgartl (ill), Schäfer (not included)
Coach: Urs Fischer

Fürth: Linde - Griesbeck, Viergever, Itter - Asta, Raschl, Tillman (Jung 90'), Willems (Bauer 73') - Leweling (Abiama 84') - Ngankam (Green 73'), Hrgota (c)
Unused subs: Funk, Burchert, Fobassam, Barry, Pululu
Out: Christiansen (thigh), Dudziak (cold), Kehr (knee), Meyerhöfer (ankle), Nielsen (thigh), Seguin (calf)
Coach: Stefan Leitl

About the clubs

SpVgg Greuther Fürth

Sportpark Ronhof | Thomas Sommer

1. FC Union Berlin

An der Alten Försterei