Union’s home record against Freiburg was formidable, across the two top flights, they’d never lost to them at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. As the legendary stadium DJ, Wumme, played ‘Dancing with tears in my eyes’ at the final whistle - though fitting to the astonishing crowd’s sense of injustice after Andrej Ilić’s goal was ruled out – they still hadn’t. Few among them would be consoled by that yet though.

Kick off took place with Aljoscha Kemlein, five meters inside the Freiburg half rolling the ball to Leopold Querfeld, the stadium quaking to the call and response between Waldseite and Gegengerade of Eisern! Union!

Maybe the atmosphere got to him, but within seconds Junior Adamu lunged at Andras Schäfer - as the old adage goes, letting him know he was there. Well, the Hungarian certainly knew. Adamu got an immediate yellow card - he would be substituted not long past the half hour mark- and it led to Union’s first shot, as Janik Haberer, clipped the free kick into his former side’s box where Leopold Querfeld volleyed over.

Within a minute, Basambundu Makengo was on the floor in the Union box, players surrounding referee, Sören Storks, demanding a penalty (or demanding that it wasn’t given, depending on if they were in black, or red and white) after Diogo Leite’s challenge. But Storks waved it away and Leite headed away the resulting long throw from Max Rosenfelder with typical, towering ease. Storks would become increasingly in the foreground of this edgy encounter.

There were similar, if not as vociferous calls when Andrej Ilić went down in the opposite box after Kemlein’s neatest of pieces of footwork played him in. Not that a spot-kick could be relied upon for either side, with Noah Atubolu and Frederik Rönnow playing, the best in the land when it comes to the art of the penalty save.

Atubolu had saved his last five in a row, Rönnow, five last season alone.

As the game finally found some momentum, Union were quick onto the front foot, and Derrick Köhn won a corner off Jan-Niklas Beste on the stroke of ten minutes, the set-piece falling to Schäfer who hit a blistering drive towards the top corner that Atubolu did well to get across to parry away. The danger wasn’t completely cleared, but by the time it fell back to Köhn, there were too many bodes in the Freiburg box for him to have a chance when he shot from 20 yards.

But for all Union’s attacking play, it was Freiburg who thought they had opened the scoring when Matthias Ginter snuck in at the back post to head a corner past Rönnow with 17 minutes played. Storks, however, quickly put a halt to their celebrations, a handball having been spotted as the ball came to the wily old defender, if in the stadium few knew what had really happened. Some still don’t.

Khedira turned to the Gegengerade, signalling for them to up the volume ever more. They responded in kind, as did Rönnow, who raced out to stop Lucas Höler in his tracks, taking the ball, and no little man, as he looked to shoot.

Having, alongside Schäfer, been a part of the rare sight of an almost perfectly synchronised pair of bicycle kicks, the same thing on their minds, as the ball fell to them in the box, Ilic was a centimetre away from latching onto Querfeld’s clever ball up the middle that split the Freiburg defence for a moment in two. He just couldn’t quite connect.

Khedira was in the thick of things. The captain for the day picked up a yellow card following a robust shoulder to shoulder challenge, then charging across the halfway line to control, and leather a ball away to safety, before getting wiped out by Adamu, the Freiburg player lucky not to get a second yellow. Before the half was up, he would be caught by Höler accidentally, the crowd screaming as play went on at the other end.

Though he waved away the physio’s attentions, Storks still ordered Khedira off the field. He jogged back on, like a naughty schoolboy, minding his tongue this time.

The pitch, meanwhile, was cutting up, huge chunks flying out of it with every challenge, but that wasn’t to stop Tim Skarke, enjoying his run of starts, flying up the right.

The disallowed goal aside, Freiburg weren’t taking their chances as the first half wore on. Beste put wide after 37 minutes, opting to shoot across Rönnow with his right foot, but overhtting it past the back post. Adamu then headed over, with time to pick his spot. It was his last touch, and he was replaced by Igor Matanovic before the half was up, the threat of a red card looming over him, and dominating the thoughts of coach, Julian Schuster.  

There was still time for Ilić to see another header fly over, but, with his back to goal, it had always seemed a tough one to get down and on target. Skarke thought he had the beating of Rosenfelder, but the flag went up as they tussled their way into a foot race; Haberer was booked for a coming together with Manzambi, though he too protested his innocence.

Briefly the players looked as if they would come together, but before the temperature could get any more heated, the whistle went, the scores level.

The second half started the same as the first, but with Ilić on the ground, the victim of an accidental, this time, elbow from Makengo.

Union immediately attacked through Ilić, and Atubolu slid out, sweeping the ball away for a corner, whipped in by Köhn, but cleared. If that seemed agricultural enough, so was Querfeld’s clearance a minute later, crashed into the main stand; better safe than sorry.

Ilić was battling, bustling, striving up front, desperately trying to carve an inch of space for either a teammate or from which to get his first goal of the season. He deserved it as much as anyone, but football is a cruel game at times.  At the other end Höler came close with a header, the result of a corner hit hard and straight, almost along the line.

But play couldn’t get going. Khedira held his head after clearing a free kick; Querfeld was left in a heap by Grifo; Grifo then caught Haberer as Union tried to play their way out from the back up the ight; Schäfer stopped Philipp Treu in his tracks with well-timed slide.

On the stroke of the hour, Baumgart made his first changes, bringing Christopher Trimmel and Ilyas Ansah on for Haberer and Skarke. Again, Khedira won a corner, and again he gestured to the crowd to up their din. It almost worked. With his first touch, Trimmel launched the ball into the box. It was nodded down into the melee, from where Ilić got his decisive touch.

Again, however, Storks, stopped the celebrations for what seemed like an age, an offside against the uninvolved (for the first time) Khedira being checked, waiting for a voice in his ear to confirm the goal. It took longer than ever, and he eventually retreated to the screen to review the scene. Trimmel and Grifo stood over his shoulder, watching the scene over and again while the crowd boiled, their fury only added to when the referee finally ruled it out.

Almost immediately after, Atubolu saved from Ansah. Querfeld had nodded down, across goal, and he seemed certain to score until the keeper stuck a leg out at the last. Doekhi, the hero of Gladbach, the hero of Bielefeld, then headed over... just.

Freiburg countered, and twice Storks penalised Trimmel for challenges on Derry Scherhant on Freiburg’s left, neither of which seemed to be particularly rash.

Tom Rothe and Alex Král came on for Kemlein and Köhn. The rain was now pouring down, but never enough to dampen the noise from the terraces as Trimmel was booked. It was a seething mass, a screaming, whistling mess, especially as Rönnow sprung to his left to punch away Matanovic’s goal bound effort. It was a wonderful stop, athletic and acrobatic.

With seven minutes left of normal time remaining, Baumgart brought on Oliver Burke for Ilić. Doekhi flicked down for Rothe, who spun, but couldn’t get his first-time shot on the turn on target; Lukas Kübler flung himself at a header in the box to clear Trimmel’s near perfect cross ahead of Khedira; Doekhi was knocked off his feet in the box.

Rönnow, calmness personified, claimed the highest of balls in the box before Ansah tried to get in ahead of Atubolu on the goal-line to a Trimmel free kick. And with every action the volume grew.

But it wasn’t enough. Somehow Freiburg had taken a point, somehow Union hadn’t taken all three. But as the players trudged their way around the Alte Försterei pitch after the final whistle, soaking, aching, having given everything, the stadium sung for them one more time.

“That was a classic battle of attrition between both teams. Unfortunately, there were very few scoring chances, especially on our side. Still, in the end and overall, it’s probably a fair draw.”

"It was a hard-fought game in which we also showed a combative performance. Especially in the second half, the first one was not so good. Freiburg was noticeably fresher at that time. Over time, we got better, unfortunately our goal then didn't count." 

“In my opinion, we deserved a point today and we got it. Therefore, we can register a partial success. After the first half, we knew that we had to step it up in the second half, and I think we did that. Now we take this point with us and look forward to the coming week.”