There are few stadiums in the world with a prettier view than the Dreisamstadion. The corners give way to pine-filled hills; the black forest calls. Especially on a sweltering day such as this. Inside, the few Union fans raised their voices as best they could among the empty expanses of the stands, half bathed in blazing sunshine, half shade. Certainly in the first half, the football played reflected the temperatures as opposed to the vistas. This was attritional, hardly the stuff of fairytales.

Union started assuredly – captain Samantha Steuerwald’s first pass towards Tomke Schneider that ran out to touch was an outlier – and Leela Egli saw her knee-high cross just evade the touch of Eileen Campbell. All she’d have needed was to make contact and the ball would surely have gone in. But that early promise fizzled out a little as the first half settled into its stilted rhythm

After six minutes, play stopped for Luca Birkholz to shake off the wincing pain of a clash of heads; Marie-Louise Eta looked on, pacing her technical area. Her side looked assured in those opening phases, and when Birkholz looked to get on the end of a long ball up, she was shepherded away off the ball by Amber Tysiak. In goal at the last, Nadine Böhi, saw her first action chasing a somewhat wild backpass from Egli, overhit and wide, that beat the attentions of the keeper and went out for a corner.

It was played low, towards the edge of the box, causing little danger, and when the ball worked out towards the right, Tomke Schneider dealt with Emma Memminger dismissively.

For both sides’ intentions of fast technical football, they were cancelling each other somewhat out as the half wore on, with Anna Reimann racing 20 yards out of her own box to beat Campbell to a speculative ball over the top. Freiburg pushed impatiently, Union waited to counter, but neither quite sparked into life.

Steuerwald scythed one clear ahead of Memminger; Böhi held a mis-hit cross from Lisa Kolb. At the other end Campbell brought down a steepling ball but couldn’t find space to turn into; Kamber’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected away and out by Nicole Ojukwu.

Union were coming into form, their passes now looking sharper, landing into the paths of players showing better first touches, and their best chance came after the drinks break when Weidauer, looking to seize her chance in the centre-forward role, crashed her shot just over the bar. She had been played in neatly by Gräwe, her pass weighted to perfection into a gap on the edge of the box. Egli would have a better chance straight afterwards, coming this time after Campbell’s heavy touch was somehow allowed to end up at the Swiss winger’s boot. She carved it high and wide, however, leaning back as she shot.

Freiburg redoubled their efforts, but still neither side could make a breakthrough, and the next break in play came after Birkholz shoulder-charged Tysiak as they raced together for the next long Freiburg pass. Though the challenge was hard, it wasn’t brutal, and if not 50-50, no more than 60-40. But Tysiak landed awkwardly on her shoulder. It hurt, you could see it written across her face, she stayed down for a while, and it took longer still for her to be allowed back onto the pitch after play had restarted without her.

If the game hadn’t exploded into life, it had shown signs of stirring, and play swung from end to end. Ojukwu saw her clever free kick come back off the wall, and her rebound blocked, before Weidauer almost found Egli, only for Memminger to find herself back in her own box to make the necessary clearance, just in time. With the half almost up she crashed a drive from range just over.

Union would have time for two more free kicks; Gräwe’s first crashing into an upstretched defender’s arm for the second. Egli bent it over the bar.

Eta changed things up at the break, bringing last weekend’s scorer, Nele Bauereisen in alongside Weidauer up top, replacing Veit and switching to an almost conventional 4-4-2. But the first chances would fall to the hosts; Böhi flinging herself out to punch clear before Tysiak just got enough on it to see Jana Vojtekova’s shot away from danger when she should have really hit the target.

It was all hands-on-deck at times. Campbell joining in the fray, almost at right-back; Schneider making a last gasp tackle ahead of Birkholz as the hosts failed to capitalise on a failed backpass.

They would take the lead after 54 minutes with a certain inevitability. Despite the tangle of bodies in the box at Ojukwu’s next corner, somehow nobody noticed Karl sneaking into a huge gap at the back post. She headed past a backpedalling Böhi, giving the keeper no chance.

Union would have their next big opportunity soon enough, but Weidauer just couldn’t get enough on her stretching volley to turn in goalwards. Frustrated she would be booked a minute later for a push on Ilayda Acikgöz from behind, as the Freibug midfielder raced towards the half way line.

Eta reacted on the stroke of the hour, bringing on naika Reissner and Judith Steinert for Egli and Schneider, like for like. Though Bauereisen would flash a volley wide to cap the very next passage of play, the newcomers had little to do with it, Unin’s attack having been sprung up the right with Janssens the initiator this time.

There was chaos in the Union box as first Acikgöz, then Alena Bienz tried to take advantage of a ball now ping-ponging around the Union box, chaos all around. Birkholz then put her shot wide having pushed Steuerwald back into her own six-yard box all the way.

At the drinks break, Eta did the rounds of her players, asking them to summon up one final charge. They had serious looks on their brows, taking long swigs from black bottles. She brought the talismanic captain, Lisa Heiseler, on for Weidauer, to help the cause, but her first real action was to enquire about the wellbeing of Kamber, in agony after coming out worst in a tackle she was booked for.

They threw everything at Freiburg after that, with Reimann clawing the ball away somehow after Steuerwald scraped her shot goalwards. The chance had come from a Heiseler corner, with the Freiburg keeper everywhere, almost, at once, first flying out, then parrying a Reissner effort, before getting back across in time to hinder the Union defender at the last.

Still Freiburg created chances though and were in not for a wonderfully timed Janssens tackle on the very edge of the box, or two Böhi saves, one down to her left, one straight and at head height, from Karl, they could have extended their lead. Steuerwald did well to get across to block Birkholz’s next effort away with only five minutes remaining. Böhi then did even better, tipping Amira Arfaoui’s shot on the bounce onto her right-hand post.

With the final whistle looming Freiburg played for time, with Arfaoui trying to take the ball into the corner and making a double substitution. They dragged it out, with Union assistant coach, Simon Falke, picking up a booking meanwhile. And when the final whistle finally arrived, they came together as the Union players had their hands on their hips, spent, anger and frustration on their faces.

They had more shots on goal, more possession and a higher percentage of passes completed. But it wasn’t enough this time. Eta called them together a final time to sum things up. They’ll come out at home against Eintracht next week fighting.