Matheo Raab had never played in the Bundesliga before, just sitting on the bench for 1. FC Union Berlin 24 times, watching Frederik Rönnow behind a back three. Now here he was, with the Dane injured and his big chance coming behind a back four. This was hardly the easiest of introductions to the top flight, especially considering the pressure heaped upon them since last weekend’s home loss to Bremen.

But that was nothing. With ten minutes of time-added-on against SC Freiburg already up, he was at the centre of a dramatic scene that, even for this particular club, took some beating. If the preceding 90 minutes had been largely uninspiring fare, what came after was astonishing. It was a delight. A furious, bewildering, glorious delight.

Wooyeong Jeong had given the guests the unlikeliest of leads just before. Now, hurting and unreplaceable, Raab would prove his worth.

But it would take a while to get that far. Union started off on the front foot, but neither side created much during a somewhat laboured normal time. The new formation needed a little calibration as Ilyas Ansah, often playing as a ten to Ilić’s nine,  strayed offside when Christopher Trimmel tried to find Tim Skarke along the right, but he found a pocket of space a moment later, setting up Derrick Köhn for the first shot on target from either side. It was easily saved by Noah Atubolu but was a good sign. Köhn had hit the woodwork twice in a fortnight, before finally scoring his first goal for Union with last week’s penalty. Atubolu had to tip a Skarke cross / shot over the bar on five minutes, better safe than sorry.

It was finely balanced in those opening phases. Trimmel made a gorgeous, sliding challenge on Derry Scherhant; Maxi Eggestein shot over from the angle before making an excellent, timely interception when Ilić looked to be away; Burcu and Ansah brought the ball a full 60 yards between them; Köhn was booked after 15 minutes for a lunge that caught Johan Manzambi.

As he freed himself for the first time, Ilić caught his volley neatly with almost 20 minutes up but couldn’t get it the right side of Atubolu’s near post.

And then, finally, after 20 minutes Raab got his first real touch of the ball as he held Igor Matanovic’s header. From a corner, it was neither particularly vicious nor tricky, and he held it at chest height, but every keeper needs to feel the ball in their hands early on, and presumably the necessity is doubly so on your debut in the top flight.

His nerves settled accordingly, he then made equally quick work of Scherhant’s bending shot, aimed towards the back post, taking that at chest height. Jordy Matengo’s cross from the left came to him along the ground, and he took care of that without fuss just as well.

Union were content to let Freiburg have most of the ball, relying on their organisation and concentration, and when they broke it was direct and up the middle. Again, Burcu took it up the middle, finding Skarke who laid the ball off for Ansah. When they went high, as from Köhn’s free kick into the box after 28 minutes, Ilić was always there to nod it down. Ansah flashed his first-time shot high and wide when he did so once, Burcu drove lower but still wide, when he did it again, both from a similar position to the left of the 18-yard-box.

They were tough, too, with the former Freiburg player, Haberer, leading the way. His point-blank block as Cyriaque Irie cracked a shot away and into his chest was something else, bringing a wince from a distance, but he barely moved a muscle. When neither Ansah, then Skarke could truly win the ball off Manzambi out on the Freiburg right, it was Haberer who came and helped out there, too.

There were drops of rain in the air, the skies over Freiburg already darkening. Yet still the almost 2,000 travelling Union fans kept up their singing. If things were less than explosive down on the Europa-Park pitch, they had delivered something astonishing, coming the best part 800 kilometres for a Sunday evening kick off.

And they got to see an unchanged Union daring to push higher up in the second half, but it was the flying Manzambi who caused the first scare, drawing a foul from Nsoki seven minutes in, just an inch outside the 18-yard-box. Union’s centre-half really had little choice by that point, however, and he could be happy that Scherhant shot the resulting free kick over Raab’s bar. Nsoki’s partner at the back, Danilho Doekhi, meanwhile exuded his usual calm, clearing anything that came his way, even as Freiburg started to up their tempo as the half went on.

First Manzambi combined, spinning his way into the box, with Matanovic, then Lucas Höler needed shoo-ing away from the box, then Phillipp Treu volleyed over from outside the box. And when Manzambi finally found space to shoot, following Treu’s lovely, switched ball, Doekhi, as ever, was there in the right place at the right time.

Having seen enough of this, Baumgart brought on Alex Král and Wooyeong Jeong for Ansah and Skarke with just over 25 minutes to play. But if the idea was to shore up the midfield, Král got Union’s best effort on goal almost straight away, drawing a diving save from Atubolu, low and to his right. Indeed, they seemed to get a little more wind in their sails, and Köhn won a free kick, 25 yards out, when floored by Irie. Having beaten the wall, however, Burcu couldn’t keep his resulting effort down.

At the other end, Doekhi and Matanovic clashed heads nastily as they went for a high ball, lofted into the Union box. Both required lengthy treatment, but fortunately the stretcher bearers, having made it as far as the Union box, were sent away before they reached the players. They eventually returned to action, Doekhi with his head swathed in a red bandage, Matanovic in a new shirt. The time they’d taken would be taken into account.

Baumgart then made his next two changes as Trimmel and Haberer made way for Josip Juranović and Aljoscha Kemlein. Matanovic would get another shot away on the turn, but as with almost everything that had come before, it reached Raab at a trickle.

Before time was up, Burcu was reduced to trudging off, hurt, replaced by Tom Rothe, himself coming back after months out injured. In one young man’s misfortune, came the end of another’s torturous slog. But it wasn’t over. Raab made his best stop yet on 89 minutes, springing to his right to hold Eggestein’s bending effort.

Then came the first moment that would define this game, if not Union’s season. Stanley Nsoki hit a wonderful pass with the outside of his boot from the halfway line, curling out to Jeong, advancing up the right. He cut inside, taking his time, and two extra short touches to set himself, and bent a shot hard across goal, beating Atubolu, and nestling inside the back post.

Union had taken the lead in the unlikeliest of fashions. But that wasn’t it. For all the lack of drama through the preceding 90 minutes, in time-added-on, the game had exploded into life. Suddenly, there were Freiburg players surrounding the referee, Sven Jablonski, after Bruno Ogbus clashed with Raab as they went for a desperately flung in cross. Though the ball flew wide, and Jablonski was unmoved by the protests for a penalty, still little was clear. Raab was hurt, and Baumgart had played all his subs. Rani Khedira ran to the bench, they were all looking for a solution.

Raab, ultimately, stayed on in agony - while everyone, including Atubolu came up for the corner - and made the biggest stop of the day, flinging himself impossibly to his right to tip Jan-Niklas Beste’s goal-bound effort around the post.

Still play went on, with Union’s keeper in clear pain, clutching his wrist tenderly at a goal kick, until finally the final whistle blew. He was flooded by team-mates, his head drooping, the grimace still there. Jeong, meanwhile, had a smile a mile wide.

Union had won the most crucial of games, and the fans were louder than ever. Even for all the pain, it had been worth every minute of it.

“I am very happy. When I come on as a substitute, I always want to change the game. Today the three points are very important for us, due to the other results we were already under a bit of pressure.” 

“We couldn't substitute anymore in injury time, so I had to put the gloves back on and get the job done. Overall, I am happy about my Bundesliga debut and that I could help the team in this way. We played a good game and allowed very little. I am just incredibly happy.” 

"It was important that we got into the game by keeping a clean sheet for a long time. The way the boys performed today was a really good performance. I take my hat off to that. You don't need to talk about Matheo's character anymore, that was truly great.”