Robin Gosens is back at the Alte Försterei on Friday night, and this time he arrives in Schalke 04 colors. The 32-year-old returns to Union Berlin on the third matchday, with kickoff set for 20.30 Uhr in Berlin.
That alone gives Union Berlin Vs Schalke a different edge. Gosens did not just pass through Union Berlin: he spent a year there after joining in the summer of 2023 as a record transfer from Italy, then left on a crazy last transfer day for AC Florenz. Now he is back in the Bundesliga with Schalke 04, the club he has called his Herzensverein.
Gosens has made clear that the move away from Berlin was not a rejection of the place itself. He said he was incredibly proud of his time at Union Berlin, that he went to the Alte Försterei every day with a smile, and that he loved playing football there for a year. The Champions-League nights were unforgettable for him, and he said he found friends for life and fell in love with the club.
That affection sits alongside a quieter truth. Gosens said he did not feel as comfortable in the capital as he had in Bergamo, and his family felt the difference too. He struggled while Union Berlin were fighting against relegation, even after the club had started a historic Champions-League-Saison following his arrival. The year gave him memories he values deeply, but it also ended with a move that came far sooner than he had once imagined.
There is also a more personal thread running through his return. Gosens said that when he climbed the steps to the arena with his godfather at the age of six, he knew he wanted to do the same one day. That memory helped shape the player he became, first in Köpenick, and now again in Berlin, only from the other side of the same night.
What Schalke 04 ask of him on Friday will matter as much as the reunion itself. The match comes on the third matchday, and Gosens is back in the Bundesliga after his summer loan move to Schalke. Union Berlin know the player, and Gosens knows the ground, but the first real answer will come on the pitch at the Alte Försterei, where a former favorite now has to help beat the club he says he once loved without reservation.
