It had been sixty years and four days since 1. FC Union Berlin were founded in Oberschöneweide’s Tranformatorenwerk. The predecessor club, whose last ever goal was scored by the great Union hero, Jimmy Hoge, and whose badge hung proudly among those of all the others on the astonishing pre-match tifo, however, could barely have imagined that this would be the future. A different country. Union with two teams, secure in the Bundesliga.

But as much as has changed for the club, so did their unbeaten run in the league, their series of comebacks, and their excellent home form against Borussia Dortmund. This was a cold evening under the lights, and a tough one, too.

Buoyed by the atmosphere and that optimism, however Union were patient at first, before they flourished for their first attacking move, a beauty via Janik Haberer and Andrej Ilić, his pass slipped artfully the way of the overlapping Wooyeong Jeong. This side can play, they showed, but they can also battle, as seen when Rani Khedira tackled Daniel Svensson; he caught him hard but fairly in the centre circle.

As they were a good stop from Gregor Kobel away from taking the lead after only five minutes when the Dortmund keeper held Ilić’s powerful downwards header, dropping to the ground to get to the ball just in time.

But their luck was out, as their contemporary nemesis, Serhou Guirassy, skipped into the box, suddenly free after only nine minutes. Though Frederik Rönnow was out quickly, the striker went down under his challenge. Referee Robert Hartmann pointed directly to the spot, from where Emre Can coolly converted the penalty, hitting it low to Ronnow’s right, far enough away to give the keeper no chance. Dortmund were one up.

Seizing the momentum, they attacked on. Rönnow held Maxi Beier’s header; Aljoscha Kemlein got in the way of Jobe Bellingham’s drive.

But Josip Juranović was already proving a problem for Dortmund on the left, and his next cross was flicked an inch above the head of the onrushing Haberer. Ilić then put his own flying header just wide after Jeong’s cross from the other flank. At the other end Fabio Silva drove wide after a bit of pinballing in the box as Union were caught off guard, suddenly outnumbered in their own box.

After almost 20 minutes Guirassy, now constantly jeered by the home fans for his part in the penalty, went down again under Khedira’s tackle, just ten yards outside the box. Union’s captain for the day put his arms out, the international sign for the swallow dive. Nevertheless, Felix Nmecha put the free kick well over, and Rönnow was more than equal to the former Unioner, Julian Ryerson’s, deep set-piece afterwards, even under pressure from Guirassy all the while.

Still Union tried to pull themselves level, and it took another stop from Kobel to deny Diogo Leite, heading the next Juranović corner goalwards.  Bellingham then caught Ansah 30 yards out as he threatened to turn inside him, but though Juranović opted to shoot straight on goal, he overhit it and put his effort high and wide.

When Kemlein and Khedira won a free kick, tussling with the retreating Guirassy, halfway inside the Dortmund half, Khedira put his hands together, reminding his teammates of their fabled comeback-qualities. Doekhi put a header just wide soon afterwards; Jeong hit the byline and tried to square, with Khedira crying out for a cut-back from the edge of the box. They were never just going to roll over, and  as the half wore out were putting Dortmund under increasing pressure, the ball hardly leaving their half.

And though Silva put a soft header over before the four minutes of time added on were up, over the bar, it was barely a half-chance, and not half as pretty as when Jeong dropped his shoulder on Nico Schlotterbeck and Svensson at the other end. Union won a final corner, their desperation shown by Kemlein’s need to get the ball back off Felix Nmecha when due a free kick in the middle. Despite the goal, Union could go into the break relatively happy.

Steffen Baumgart made no changes at the break, and similarly his side started off taking their time, a raking cross-field ball from Leopold Querfeld over fifty yards to Juranović showing the plans they’d made. Equally so, the Dortmund players seemed to use every opportunity to slow the game down, taking their time at throw-ins and goal kicks.

Khedira and Haberer put together the neatest of moves on the right, with Jeong dropping in, fizzing the ball between them, forcing Kobel to come out to stop the captain’s swirling  cross.

Dortmund, however, doubled their lead after 52 minutes. Rönnow had sprung into action, diving to his right to tip Nmecha’s low shot wide, but there was little he could do when Nico Schlottterbeck rose highest at the back post to head home the resulting corner.

Things the grew tetchy. Can shoved Haberer after a free kick had been given  Union’s way, with Juranović the only man booked following the brief melee that followed. Juranović whipped the set-piece in, but now Can went down in the box to the crowd’s fury. The stadium was reaching boiling point; Doekhi got a telling off for his battle with Silva that saw the Dortmunder come off worse. Silva got his own talking to when hen later barged over Haberer.

With 25 minutes to go, Baumgart took off  Ansah and Juranović, replacing them with Livan Burcu and Stanley Nsoki, the latter going on at left full-back, just as he had last week against Stuttgart. But whereas then he had conjured up the equaliser, here they just couldn’t break through - even when Jeong and Haberer combined on the right, and were certain they’d won a throw, the flag went the other way. Having seen Nsoki win a corner on the left, Ilić met it, but again saw his header saved at the near post by Kobel.

Rönnow again came to Union’s rescue as the clock ticked towards  80 minutes when he saved from Beier, having taken the ball after an uncharacteristic Haberer mistake.

Oliver Burke and Andras Schäfer replaced Leite and Kemlein with 15 minutes left, and the chances of a miracle starting to dwindle, the hosts switching to a back four.

With play stopped, Baumgart took Jeong by the arm, his message clear, pointing towards the Waldseite, the opposition goal and his intended direction of travel. When the next ball went out of play near him, Union’s coach reacted just as quickly as used to as a  striker at the Alte Försterei, taking it and passing it to Burke as quick as a flash.

Burcu was next up, striding forward and letting fly from 25 yards, but Kobel had it covered as he got down to his right.

But the nail in the coffin came as Beier picked up the ball to the right of Rönnow’s goal in the 83rdminute. He looked up and planted an unstoppable shot low and hard, inside the back post. It was an excellent finish  under pressure.

Baumgart reacted again, taking off Haberer for Christopher Trimmel, but even the talismanic captain, who had just inked his new contract at the birthday celebration on Tuesday couldn’t magic up this comeback. His first corner was cleared from the pack in the box with five minutes added playing out, but still he fought Svensson all the way back to his own byline, refusing to concede an inch. His doggedness was matched by a beautiful dash of colour to a tough day as Querfeld stepped up, dragging the ball back with grace and the slightest drop of the shoulder into the centre-circle. But by that point it mattered little.

Crestfallen, the players trudged through their lap of honour, looking as if they didn’t feel they deserved it. But time will tell, and they’ll be reminded that things have rarely looked as healthy here in the last 60 years. Dortmund are second in the table for a reason, and the scoreline certainly flattered them.

“We gave everything for over 90 minutes today. In the end, they win the match clearly, even though they didn't have much more possession. This ultimately characterises a top team in the league. We left everything on the pitch, but the opponent simply did it better today." 

“We actually got into the game quite well. Even towards the end of the first half, we had some pressure phases where we needed to reward ourselves. After the half-time break, we conceded the second goal from a set piece, which kind of pulled the plug on us. After that, we did have some good attempts, but BVB simply showed us today why they are a top team." 

“I believe we were in the game during the first half. The penalty certainly didn’t play in our favour, but we still had chances. Overall, however, we didn’t perform well enough over 90 minutes to deserve the three points. BVB did well today.”