Ex-Celtic pair combine for historic Bundesliga win as Scotland man makes bid to end 2,000 day exile
Former Celtic loanee scores again to match career best tally.
Exiled Scotland striker Oli Burke made another bid to end his international exile by equalling his career best goal tally on a historic day for Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
The 29-year-old forward bagged his sixth goal of the season as Union Berlin enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 away win over Mainz. New head coach Marie-Louise Eta became the first female coach to win a match in Europe's top five at the Mewa Arena thanks to Andrej Ilic's first-half strike and dramatic late goals from Burke and former Celtic defender Josip Juranovic.
Eta, who succeeded Steffen Baumgart as interim boss last month, hadn’t been able to secure a victory in her first three games, losing two and drawing the other. However, her side got off to an excellent start in west-central Germany when Ilic nodded home Aljoscha Kemlein’s pinpoint cross, giving the away side a deserved lead seven minutes before the break.
A strong run into the box by Burke almost saw the visitors double their lead before the half-time whistle, with his lay off allowing Livan Burcu to fire at goal from close range, before a long-range effort from Nadiem Amiri almost levelled the scores in first-half stoppage time.
Despite enjoying the bulk of the play, Union Berlin found themselves pegged back just two minutes into the second half when Paul Nebel’s cross found the boot of Suriname striker Sheraldo Becker, who placed home beyond the helpless Carl Klaus in the away goal. The hosts should have gone into the lead just seconds later when teenage centre-back Kacper Potulski was denied by a stunning save as the home side upped the ante.
The game exploded into life in the final ten minutes, though, when Ilic came close to bagging his second goal of the game, smashing off the bar with a shot from distance following a rapid counterattack. However, Eta was finally able to celebrate her first three points as head coach when Derrick Kohn’s looping cross was nodded down by Alic, allowing Burke to control, spin and fire into the top corner with just three minutes of normal time remaining. Former Celtic right-back Juranovic tapped home deep into injury time to seal all three points.
The goal means Burke, who was last capped by Scotland exactly 2,000 days ago in a 1-0 Nations League defeat to Israel on November 18, 2020, has now matched his career best goal tally of six, matching the number of goals he scored for Werder Bremen during the 2024/25 campaign.
Starting the game on the right-hand side of a front three, Burke has now provided three goal contributions in Union Berlin’s last five games, as he looks to make a late attempt to break into Steve Clarke’s squad for the World Cup this summer. The 29-year-old has won 13 caps for his country and hopes to be included in the national team’s provisional 55-man squad list for the tournament later this month.
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