In some ways, for Marvin Friedrich, this tough evening, the furthest away trip his side will face all season, could have started better. At least, it could have started a little less painfully, having taken all of a minute for Igor Matanovic to kick him in the face, reaching for a high ball into the Union box, that he got a swift yellow card for. But it also didn’t really improve, either. Union hadn’t been beaten in the league in the previous four, a record that came to an end against an excellent Freiburg side. They aren’t third in the Bundesliga by chance.

Friedrich was at the heart of a back four, the question if last weekend’s game with Rani Khedira joining in back there, plugging any gaps that might come up in the wake of the catastrophic cup loss in Köln, was just a one-off, answered.

But, ultimately, Frederik Rönnow in goal was their best player, making a handful of superb stops, including one from Vicenzo Grifo’s penalty that took the breath away.  

Union, however, started positively, looking to attack up the right. First Livan Burcu popped up there, attacking Philipp Treu, then as Kastriot Imeri tried to hook a chest-high ball back and into the box. Igor Matanovic, however, would get the first sniff of goal, flicking his header from a free kick into Frederik Rönnow’s arms, when he had risen alone in the box, and would kick himself just as hard as he’d kicked Friedrich for not making more of the chance.

The hosts, as evidenced by their own three-game winning run, spanning the league, cup and Conference League, were naturally not short of confidence, however, and quickly took to the front foot, with Jordy Makengo a mis-step away from taking on the dangerous Derry Scherhant’s pass up the line, and Scherhant, himself, drawing  a stop from Rönnow, down to his left.

But Union weren’t entirely short of their own moments. Derrick Köhn found Burcu, now back on his more usual left-hand side, who slipped the ball between Matthias Ginter’s legs, a little piece of magic on a wet night down south.

It wasn’t exactly glittering as a spectacle. Zeno Van Den Bosch was booked early, as was Yannik Engelhardt after he caught Burcu late after 25 minutes, leaving the Union player wincing on the floor, and seeing yellow for his trouble. Skarke then got booked after jumping shoulder to shoulder with Ginter, before leaving the Freiburg veteran complaining about a blow to the lip after they wrestled for a ball long passed, uüp the Freiburg left-hand side. The former Freiburg player, Janik Haberer, nudged Scherhant, but his free kick was claimed easily by Rönnow.

The hosts were turning the screw as the half wore on, and it took the fingertips of Rönnow to deny Yuito Suzuki with ten minutes to go til the break. The keeper made an even better stop on 42 minutes, again getting down to his left to tip Matanovic’s header, hit powerfully, toweringly downwards, away. It was their tenth shot of the game already to Union’s none. They’d have another before the break

But the statistics be damned. Union were fighting with all they had, despite getting hemmed back, and they went into the break still level. Everything was still to play for. 

Mauro Lustrinelli made a double change at the break, bringing on Oliver Burke and Wooyeong Jeong for Skarke and Imeri, but, just as before, the hosts would have the first effort as Suzuki crashed one off Köhn’s turning back in the box. Köhn would be crashed into the hoardings by Treu only a short time afterwards, as Suzuki cut inside of Jeong and Haberer with five minutes gone, but dragged his shot wide of Rönnow’s right-hand upright.

The pressure was becoming crippling, as Freiburg pulled and pushed and pressed all ten of Union’s outfielders ever deeper back into their own half. As such it seemed only a matter of time until they got the opener. The excellent Suzuki attacked up the right, finding Union’s old tormentor from his Bochum days, Jan-Niklas beste, who returned the ball into the box. Rani Khedira, backpedalling, was caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to hinder Suzuki from rolling the ball home while not putting it over his own line as it flashed past the outstretched hand of Rönnow. Sadly for the skipper, he could do the former but not the latter. He rolled onto his back, disbelievingly.

It was if the goal shook Union out of their torpor, first as Burcu almost forced an error from Makengo, then as Burke put wide, built their brief revival wouldn’t last long. Scherhant came away with the ball from his duel with Haberer, striding into the middle and setting Suzuki away, behind Köhn, on the right. He clipped the ball over Rönnow with the ease granted to a man in form, under almost no pressure at all. Friedrich did his best to reach it, but his shot was too well placed. Union were two down.

Lustrinelli reacted, bringing on Andrej Ilić for the first time this season, just in time for their first corner of the game – one that had to be retaken as Khedira and Treu grappled in the box. After Vincenzo Grifo had whipped a free kick not far wide, the16-year-old Wunderkind, Linus Güther, on for Aebischer, would join him with 15 minutes to go.

The pair of them would both have shots away before 80 minutes was up, both crashed into the crowd and away, but both at least signalling a little more intent as the game went on. Güther zipped about at the tip of midfield, linking up with Burke before tackling Maximilian Eggestein.

But those green shoots were barely to show when Freiburg got a penalty, Schäfer having lunged for a ball in the Union box, catching Keisuke Goto on the way His contact was minimal, and he and Khedira argued their case for long enough, but the decision stood.

What fate had in mind was something else though, as Rönnow sprung to his left to palm Grifo’s spot kick away. He balled his fist; Friedrich raced to him. But the keeper’s job wasn’t done. A minute later he saved from Lucas Höler, an astonishing, reflex stop, especially when one considers the crowd in front of him, obscuring the view.

His teammates further forward tried gainfully, and the substitute, Tom Rothe, caused mild chaos when he whipped in a cross from the left, just as Burke, Ilić and Jeong had combined neatly outside the box shortly before. But the five minutes added on were never to be enough. The unbeaten run was over.