Union stepped out in their third kit on Saturday afternoon, white trimmed and flecked with sandy tones. It is a representation of the work going on behind the Alte Försterei, of the building site where Europe’s first combined men’s and women’s training centre is springing up; the kit as a metaphor, but one that took on further depth when one considers Mauro Lustrinelli’s words in the wake of the chaotic, glorious, 3-3 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt last week.

Putting together a team was like building a house, he said. You can’t just start with the roof. So, with that in mind he would have been delighted to see Frederik Rönnow back in the side, and to be able to introduce Felix Uduokhai at centre-back. They would be, one presumes, the foundations.

But for all that, Lustrinelli’s players didn’t have the chance to even look at the deeds on Saturday afternoon. Union had never won in Leverkusen, and still they haven’t. If anything this game resembled Urs Fischer’s last ever for Union, when his side didn’t get a sniff and the roof finally fell in.

Of course, Lustrinelli is only at the beginning of his time in Köpenick, though their nationalities are the same, their situations are incomparable. But, if his side had stunned Frankfurt with Emmanuel Latte Lathe’s third minute opener, Leverkusen would do the same in a third of the time, today. Malik Tillmann found Jarrell Quansah, getting it back for Afonso Moreira who flicked it across goal. It looked like the ball was had gone too far, over the byline, but Miguel pulled it back at the death for Ezequiel Fernandez to score. Rönnow, who hadn’t played a minute since May, tried to slap it away, but he never stood a chance. He rubbed his eyes.

Uduokhai was booked three minutes into his debut, dragging back Patrick Schick. It had been a tough start for the guests to say the least.

And it continued. In the following ten minutes, Rönnow would be largely keeping Leverkusen at bay on his own. He had to show the strongest of hands to deflect the former Herthaner with the bit between his teeth, Ibrahim Maza’s shot away over the bar. His save from Schick with eight minutes gone was better still, somehow getting his shoulder in the way of the Czech striker’s goal-bound, point-blank header. He dived to his right to deny Moreira; he dived to his left to stop Tillman.

Aleix Garcia saw his clever free kick, won after Khedira grappled with Miguel, flicked away for a corner as they strived to double their lead.

At the other end, while Mark Flekken remained relatively untroubled, Union did start to flicker as the half wore on, however. Marin Ljubičić thought he was through to get a run on goal but was just offside. He then found Khedira with a clever pass inside, the midfielder trying to flick it over the top for Latte Lath. Livan Burcu whipped a wicked cross over from the right without breaking stride, but there was no one at the back post to take advantage. Aljoscha Kemlein and Ljubičić then combined up the middle to set Latte Lath free, but again, he was a whisker off side.

But for all that, Leverkusen made it 2-0 after 27 minutes. Schick had just crashed a header off the underside of the bar, the ball cleared by Khedira, but it would ultimately only wind up at the boot of Miguel whose cross from the left was this time headed home by Facundo Medina. This time he left nothing to doubt.

There were points after this where it seemed no Union player could get a foot on the ball. Leverkusen were dominating, with Maza causing all sorts of problems, winning battles, darting this way and that, and Schick roaming in and out dragging gaps in the Union defence for his teammates like he was picking at the holes of an old jumper. Uduokhai cleared from inside the six-yard box, as did Van Den Bosch. Rothe tried to burst clear of Moreira to give his team-mates a breather, but even in this he was foiled, the ball unfortunately springing out of play off his shin, so he didn’t even have the grace of a won free kick.

With the half almost up, Schick slipped into another dangerous position, but Uduokhai was there to take care of it, appearing in the gap as if he’d been teleported in. It was a fine piece of work, but, as the players went down the tunnel at the break, it was clear they’d have to create more at the other end to have a chance of matching last weekend’s heroics.

Schick makes it three, Maza four.

Lustrinelli is not a man prone to panic, and his side came out unchanged after the break, with Van Den Bosch picking up an early booking as he lunged towards Medina, more in the flush of the charge he was on than anything malicious. It did mean that both Union’s centre-backs were in the book though.

Things would get worse as Bayer added a third after 47 minutes gone. Maza found Quansah who squared for Schick. Onside by the thickness of the shirt on his shoulder, e had too much time and space to pass up this one, side-footing the ball past a helpless Rönnow.

It spurred a little life for the guests, as Kemlein and Ljubičić interplayed a neat pass or two, Medina getting in the way before Kemlein could collect the return pass in the box. But even then, Leverkusen broke, again through the irrepressible Maza, and Burcu had to get back quickly to sweep up. When van Den Bosch came up to challenge Miguel – the Leverkusen left-back, remember – he his frustrated cry could be heard all around as he still couldn’t win the ball back. He did better back in his own box, heading Moreira’s cross away.

Rönnow was still needed, too, diving to his right to stop the next shot from Schick, before Lustrinelli made his first raft of changes. Wooyeong Jeong, Janik Haberer and the hero of last week, Tim Skarke, were on for Latte Lath, Aebischer and Kemlein.

But they could do little other than look on as Maza crowned his performance with a fine goal, finishing a one-two with Schick – if it did get the slightest of deflections on the way - to make it 4-0 for Leverkusen.

Union didn’t roll over after that. As Christopher Trimmel waited an age to come on for Juranović, Haberer saw his drive from range fly over the bar. It was Union’s fourth shot of the day; Leverkusen had taken 14 by that point. Jeong somehow danced his way into the Leverkusen six-yard box, only to get barged off the ball at the last, before Ljubičić battled with Loic Badé all the way to finally win a free kick out by the corner flag with ten minutes to play.

With three minutes added on Rönnow had one more big job to do, tipping Fernandez’s firm half-volley over the bar, falling backwards as he went. It was a fine stop, if it meant little. For thoughts were already moving towards next Friday and the visit of a re-promoted Schalke 04. One thing is certain, Lustrinelli will put in plenty of work on the site before then.