When asked if he would consider the phrase “never change a winning team” ahead of this game, Mauro Lustrinelli paused for a moment before answering, thoughtfully (as if he ever answered anything in any other way). “Actually, I don’t really like this phrase”, he said, before going on to do just that. Granted, he expanded on his theory to point out that there are so many variables in football, that such a platitude is unhelpful at best, and the sickness lay-offs of Oliver Burke and Livan Burcu forced his hand slightly anyway, but still. He was surely glad to be able to stick to a happy formula for once.

Well, they didn’t win this one, but though it remained goalless, his Union side delivered in a gripping, white-knuckle ride against Borussia Dortmund. His Union side came pretty damn close, and their second clean sheet in a row shows the leaps they have made recently. That, at the end, three products of the Union academy, in Linus Güther, Aljoscha Kemlein and Mekhi Gray, were on the pitch for the first time in the club’s Bundesliga history only gave more cause for cheer.

The beginning was as wild as the choreo that erupted onto the Waldseite, celebrating the 20^th birthday of the Teen Spirit Köpenick group. Ethan Nwaneri crashed into Zeno van Den Bosch halfway inside the Union half. It was careless, dangerous and left the Union defender on the floor in agony. Referee, Daniel Schlager, wasted no time in showing the red card to the Dortmund player. Few could believe their eyes, but neither could the ref. Apologetically he withdrew it, showing yellow instead.

Fittingly enough the game was soon to grind to a halt as the show behind the goal continued apace, with acrid yellow smoke now pouring out over the stadium from behind Frederik Rönnow’s goal, enveloping it in a mustard mist. Almost as soon as play restarted, the former Unioner Nico Schlotterbeck joined Nwaneri on the colour chart, this time for a crunch on Michel Aebischer. Serhou Guirassy would get one for a chop to Andras Schäfer’s shins before even 13 minutes were up.

Despite the break, Union were looking the sharper side in those initial moments, with Jeong attacking down the right, jinking inside and out, and Andras Schäfer revelling in the responsibility Mauro Lustrinelli has placed in him, playing a delicate chip up the line towards Michel Aebischer. They were daring and dashing, and at times as quick as lightning. And even when that other ex-Unioner, Julian Ryerson, got some space down the right to run into, Felix Uduokhai was right there to slide the ball away from danger. The centre-back put in a monstrous performance, nullifying the influence of a Guirassy who has specialised in tormenting Union over recent years. When they wrestled each other to the floor in the second half you could almost feel the ground shaking, it was like two colossi grappling for the fates of the earth.

The set-piece taken, Frederik Rönnow held the corner as safely as you like, plucking it out of the sky at his back post. He dropped penitently to his knees to claim Ryerson’s next cross from the right, while he stayed on his feet to take Guirassy’s chip from the left.

And though Dortmund, predictably enough, were seeing more of the ball as the half went on, Union were causing them problems on the break, particularly through Imeri, who was darting into gaps, left and right. They looked to punish any mistakes, too, Skarke seizing upon Waldemar Anton’s loose pass, then chasing Schlotterbeck waspishly back towards the Dortmund goal.

Skarke was excellent, robbing Jobe Bellingham from behind, then getting Union’s first real shot off on goal after 27 minutes, driving low and hard for the right-hand post, but pulling it wide.

Union stepped up. Rothe and Imeri combined repeatedly on the left, the former winning a corner after skipping past Joane Gadou and Ryerson. It was hit flat, and flew dangerously across the box, somehow avoiding everyone in there, a tumult of limbs like a Hieronymus Bosch paining, seething below its flight path.

The atmosphere was febrile, even for the Alte Försterei, and it came to boiling point several times, first as Rothe was shown Union’s first card, having tackled Ryerson, then as Imeri was left on the floor, having been battered by Schlotterbeck, but play carried on regardless. The jeering and whistling shook the golden-brown leaves off the trees all around. It got worse when Skarke was thrown to the floor by Schlotterbeck, this time as he spun around him on his into the Dortmund half. Still, Schlager waved play on.

And as Skarke and Anton both lay on the floor on the edge of the Dortmund box, but no whistle came, it was as if he had decided not to use it at all any more.

Superb, Union upped their pressure nonetheless, and Haberer flashed his drive over following a clever little free kick routine between Imeri and Schäfer, the latter nudging the ball for the former to take on and strike. Having had the ball land in his arms, if somewhat fortuitously, Rönnow sprung Skarke away again up the right, this time needing Schlotterbeck to outpace him.

As three minutes of the four added on were played, Union could barely have come any closer. Kobel somehow tipped the excellent Imeri’s shot over, before Jeong lashed one just over.

With Imeri departed at the break, replaced by Emmanuel Latte Lath, Union were to start the second half on the back foot, first as Daniel Svensson attacked up the left, then as Guirassy tussled again with Uduokhai on the right of the Union box. Rönnow then punched the next Ryerson corner away, but the hosts were to hit back, first through Latte Lath, then Schäfer, as he almost threaded a pass through to Skarke inside the six-yard box.

By now the rain was getting heavier, fine, but all-permeating, making the pitch slick as glass. Play stopped as Jeong required treatment, but Uduokhai and Van Den Bosch chatted like they were at the beach; they have become a formidable pairing at the back in the shortest of times. Jeong was back soon enough, signalling his return by nutmegging Svensson, stopped only by a perfectly timed slide from Bellingham.

Nmecha threw himself to the floor in the Union box under the lightest of touches from Haberer, but Schlager was never going to give that one.

Union broke immediately – it was that kind of a game – and Schäfer again found Skarke bursting into space, this time taking on his man and aiming for the top corner as Kobel came out, just hitting his shot over the bar.

But a reinvigorated Dortmund kept on, and Maxi Beier cursed himself for dragging his shot wide, with his final touch of the game before being substituted, when he had time to pick his spot a little better. Skarke’s yellow for pulling back Schlotterbeck was fair and expected; he was happy to take one for the team if it meant breaking up the next attack.

The crowd grew louder by the minute. When substitute, Fabio Silva, shoved Haberer as they both raced at pace towards the Union goal it seemed certain that a free kick would be given, but again nothing came of it. When Nmecha and Schäfer clashed heads, first he let play carry on, before ultimately penalising Union.

The Alte Försterei boiled on.

And still the game went one way and then the other. Haberer, Jeong and Skarke played a gorgeous triangle on the right, even if the Korean had unwittingly dummied his own player halfway through. Skarke would be replaced by Mekhi Gray on 69 minutes, leading the line in only his second appearance for the first team. His debut had been more than promising. This would prove more evidence of his abilities at the highest level. He is to the manor born.

Haberer won a free kick out right; Schäfer cracked a shot that was only blocked in the crowd; Gray towered into a header over Schlotterbeck, leaving the international on the floor as Union won another corner.

Christopher Trimmel and Aljoscha Kemlein came on with 15 minutes of normal time still to play, replacing Schäfer and Haberer. Hearts fluttered as Ryerson’s free kick, given for a pull by Schäfer on the edge of the box, dropped the other inside of the back post, having just evaded the heads of Schlotterbeck and Guirassy on the way. When he clipped another inswinging cross into the box, Rönnow claimed the ball above Guirassy’s head, dropping to the floor as the volume again reached the roof.

But this Union side are made of stronger stuff than the one that got mauled in Munich only a few weeks ago – the difference Lustrinelli has made in such a short time is almost unbelievable - and they were fearless, even as the clock ticked away. Kemlein, Trimmel, Van Den Bosch and Aebischer passed the ball flawlessly between themselves, ultimately seeing it switched to Latte Lath on the left, and the next Union corner.

It wasn’t over; Trimmel cleared off the line, Guirassy put his shot straight at Rönnow; at the other end, Khedira headed over, barely. The with only two minutes of the added time remaining, Lustrinelli brought on Güther for the brilliant Jeong. Union had a final dash, with Gadou hoicking the ball out for a corner, a final chance.

Uduokhai reached the ball first, but couldn’t head it down.

The tension was unbearable as Dortmund won a final corner, time already long played out. It was cleared, then a final time before Schlager finally signalled that this thrilling, exhausting game was finally over. Soaked to the skin, the Union team bounced through their lap of honour. They had never drawn against Dortmund. And this one felt even better than that. 

“We simply defend better as a whole team,” is Felix Uduokhai’s response to the question of what is being done better in defense than before. “I’m really excited that we kept a clean sheet today, we need to build on that. We knew today the focus was on being compact and that we defend clearly as a unit.

“Of course, we conceded too many goals in the first games, which is why we wanted to use the international break to work on our stability. I think we have done quite well in that regard and today we were able to deliver a solid team performance again. We are pleased with the point, but we do not want to let up now; we want to stay focused,” said Frederik Rönnow, after his second clean sheet in a row.

“We have continued the good performance that we showed last week throughout this week. I am very satisfied with the team's work. They worked together and tried until the end to win the game. It is a nice 0-0 for us.” evaluates Mauro Lustrinelli the match.