Maybe it wasn’t quite redemption in the end, but it was something not far from it. Union had been humiliated in Köln just five days ago, struck by five goals that Mauro Lustrinelli both surprised and angered him in equal measure, he said; to be a little disappointed in the end with a hard-fought point against an FC Köln side who, though not hitting the heights of that Cup tie, are still not to be taken lightly, was certainly an improvement. 

The first thing that needed to be addressed were the holes in the ship that had caused the Pokal sinking, and in the shape of Marvin Friedrich, they had a defender who knows this place better than most. After 1759 days, and a few more seconds, his first touch back in the Bundesliga for 1. FC Union was vital. Sebastian Sebulonsen had picked up the ball from kick off and charged past Derrick Köhn, running on and on until he reached the Union box. He had built up a head of steam, gaining momentum like a 16-wheeler with every stride, but Friedrich’s tackle was immaculate. It had to be.

His return was to prove an excellent one, played alongside, as often as not, a Rani Khedira who relished his position shoring up the back line, his arms always out, talking all the time to his teammates, his head jerking one way and then the next, always alert to the next danger.

That moment aside, Union didn’t look too stunned at the start of a game that started out thrillingly but would lull a little as the evening drew on and the cold Autumn night settled down over Köpenick. Köhn advanced into the Köln box and won the first corner after only two minutes. Janik Haberer, Kastriot Imeri and Tim Skarke exchanged two or three short, shimmering passes up the right that saw the ball fly between them at pace. Burcu, a menace at times, was close to taking Zeno Van Den Bosch’s long clearance on the turn.

Imeri got the first shot of the day off when he volleyed a rebounded corner with his right foot, hit across goal, just wide of the left-hand upright. As Michel Aebischer stepped up to take the set-piece he discussed with Andras Schäfer who should be where. Schäfer, the old head, somehow, pointed; Imeri was in just the right place when it fell.

But they still needed a goal, and it came on the stroke of ten minutes as Burcu again attacked up the left, finding Skarke who cut the ball across goal brilliantly, taking keeper, Marvin Schwäbe, out of the equation entirely. For Haberer to get his second in two league games, all he had to do was hit it in from a couple of yards out. The reaction it got made it feel like he had put it in the top corner from a mile out

Relief poured up and out of the stadium, screamed to the heavens. It didn’t change anything, and it didn’t mean that they’d win today, but it was something tangible and sometimes in football that can be enough to change a season’s destiny.

The players grew in confidence. Van Den Bosch stopped the danger-man, Said El Mala in his tracks on the right, while Khedira and Friedrich took care of Linton Maina when he got the ball in the Union box with studied ease. Burcu started a run, square, across the eighteen-yard line that bristled, but never really ended, and the way Schäfer attacked a header inside the centre-circle, stunning Paul Okon-Engstler and almost setting Burcu away in a single blow, was emblematic of how important he has become to Mauro Lustrinelli during his short time in Köpenick.

El Mala, who had utterly dominated Union on Tuesday, wasn’t having half the fun he had back then, and showed his frustration on 25 minutes, pushing Van Den Bosch away at a throw-in. The Union defender smiled wryly. Schäfer then picked his pocket as he tried to jink his way into the box, standing up tall, keeping his eye on the ball and making the tackle look like the easiest thing in the world. Mind you, Van Den Bosch bettered it, robbing the striker and setting Köhn off with a raking, crossfield pass.

He would catch El Mala late and from behind before the half was up. Accepting the yellow card without complaint, he offered his hand to the now writhing striker.

Still Köln attacked as the half wore on, and Frederik Rönnow made his return seem of ever greater importance when he saved from Maina, one-on-one, saving with his knees, without even conceding a corner.

If the game was engaging, and certainly far from dull at this point, it was also littered with fouls between players who now knew each other all too well. Joel Schmied caught Burcu with a shoulder, turning into him. Jahmai Simpson-Pusey was booked for a lunge on Haberer. Köln broke through Maina, but despite his metre head start, both Schäfer and Köhn gave everything they had – eyes popping, cheeks bulging, arms pumping, sliding almost in unison - to get back to stop the cross in time.

Before the break came, Union could barely have come closer to getting a second. Burcu was in irrepressible form when on the ball, and he crashed the ball off the bar with five minutes normal time to play, having attacked Sebulonsen, feinting to go inside from the left, nudging the ball forwards as he went at pace.

The impressive Köhn got the first shot away after the break, a drive from the left that had pace, but was still hit too centrally to trouble Schwäbe too much, then Aebischer got away with a loose pass that saw El Mala’s cross from the byline evade everyone in the box. But he soon threw himself into Schäfer, looking for a foul that was never coming. His bristling anger was shared by Okon-Engstler who could consider himself fortunate to only get a yellow card having shoved Imeri to the ground rashly, as tempers started to fray in the middle of the pitch. El Mala would thrash a left-footed shot high and wide ten minutes into the second half. 

Union were committed and strong, and their confidence was still high, trusting themselves to play, either when Burcu tore into the Köln half, looking to set Aebischer away, or when Schäfer lifted the ball over Borna Sosa’s head for Haberer, an elegant solution in a tight space, but they weren’t creating as much as they had before the break. So far they were able to absorb any Köln attacks, but with Imeri tiring, their choice of  outlets was getting thinner.

Lustrinelli changed things up on the hour, with Oliver Burke and Aljoscha Kemlein coming on for Skarke and Imeri, but the next threat would come through Burcu and Köhn, the latter felled by the substitute, Alessio Castro-Montes as he raced into the box from the left. It looked a stone-wall penalty but was dismissed without so much as a second thought.

Maina was booked for a nudge on Rönnow as he went to kick the ball out of his hands, Union’s stopper having taken Castro-Montes’ cross out of the rapidly darkening sky as easily as plucking an apple from a tree. Then a let off came for Union as substitute, Said’s brother, Malek El Mala snatched at his volley in the box as a corner found him. The debutant sliced over the bar when it seemed more difficult than hitting the target.

As Köln started to tighten the screw, pushing Union deeper with every move, Burcu and Haberer came off with 15 minutes to play, making way for Wooyeong Jeong and Christopher Trimmel. Then came two bookings in quick succession for Köhn and Kemlein, who took his on the chin, having dragged Okon-Engstler back with a certain desperate necessity as Köln threatened another attack.

The equaliser, when it came on 78 minutes, was not undeserved. A corner was flicked on by Castro-Montes for Malek El Mala to side-foot the ball past a helpless Rönnow up and into the roof of the net. A little of the air left the stadium.

Union rallied, with Burke seeing the ball nipped off his toe at the last by Tom Krauß, and Aebischer having his pass to the Scottish striker intercepted, just as he began another sprint, up the left this time. Kemlein’s clever chip over the top to him with only a couple of minutes remaining was just taken by Schwäbe.

Köln still had chances at the end, Mikey Moore flashing wide and Krauß driving over, but with the two minutes added on up it was all over. If the Union fans seemed a little subdued by the final whistle, they were safe in the knowledge that they had seen a huge improvement. If not forgotten, the 5-0 had at least been put to bed.