1. FC Union Berlin lost at home for the first time this season – going down 2-1 against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Having conceded a goal inside the opening three minutes of the game, Wooyeong Jeong equalized in the 29th minute, only for Patrik Schick to score to give the hosts the win. 

1. FC Union Berlin: Rönnow – Trimmel (78. Juranovic), Doekhi, Vogt, Querfeld (85. Volland), Rothe – Khedira (78. Schäfer), Kemlein – Jeong (78. Skov), Skarke (68. Vertessen), Hollerbach

Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Hradecky – Frimpong (78. Mukiele), Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie, Grimaldo – Arthur (78. Tella), Andrich (58. Palacios), Xhaka, Garcia (58. Wirtz) – Schick

The starting XI:

Union’s head coach – Bo Svensson, made five changes to the side that started in last weekend’s disappointing 1-0 loss away in Wolfsburg. In typical fashion, Frederik Rönnow was between the sticks, behind a back three of Leopold Querfeld, in for Diogo Leite, Kevin Vogt and Danilho Doekhi.

On the flanks, whilst Christopher Trimmel held his place on the right of midfield, Tom Rothe came back in for Robert Skov on the left, either side of Rani Khedira and Aljoscha Kemlein in the middle.

Svensson’s biggest changes came up front where Wooyeong Jeong, Tim Skarke and Benedict Hollerbach replaced Janik Haberer, Jordan Siebatcheu and Yorbe Vertessen respectively.

Attendance: 22.012

Goals: 0-1 Frimpong (2.), 1-1 Jeong (30.), 1-2 Schick (70.)

Frimpong gives the hosts an early lead – before Yeong strikes back

Sometimes, as Christopher Trimmel said after the final whistle, you can play well and still lose. "That's football."

A golden-like sun dipped over the main stand at kick off – the smoke from the grills around the Alte Försterei rising, creating a mist over the browning yet fading leaves of the forest. It was loud in there – hopes were as high as the few wisps of clouds in the clear blue sky. Union had not won in five games, but they knew that here, in their fortress, they were still yet to be beaten this season. 

However, Union’s optimism would barely last the first three minutes of the game, as Alejandro Grimaldo ran onto Jonathan Tah’s long ball, slipping the attentions of both Kevin Vogt and Danilho Doekhi. As Rönnow came out, uncertain whether to engage or not, the ball was rolled across goal to where Jeremie Frimpong was galloping – all he had to do was take a touch and guide the ball past Rönnow into the now gaping Union net.

It was the worst of starts for the home side, especially as everyone knew that Leverkusen had scored ten goals in their last two games. This smelled, if only briefly, of trouble.

Union were rocked by the early goal, and Frimpong, particularly, was proving to be a menace out on the right-hand side. He skipped past Tom Rothe with an impish turn yet hit his early cross too close to Rönnow. It was the starting shot of a battle on that flank that would last for much of the game.

Union managed to drag themselves back into proceedings quickly enough though – as captain, Trimmel, was sure to point out after the final whistle when he talked of his side’s thirst for the battle.

“We were more courageous today and tried to press more offensively”.

Their first big chance came as Doekhi found himself with Aljoscha Kemlein’s delicately chipped ball falling into his path, glaring down on goal. He is a big man, and has scored eight times for Union, but they were all with his head and this one evaded him as he stretched out to reach the dipping ball.

Union’s defence needed to be constantly alert to the danger posed by Bayer, and Vogt got a vital touch as Patrik Schick looked to cross once again into the box – this time from the left-hand side on the 15th minute mark. Trimmel was there next, bullying Aleix Garcia off the ball as they tussled at the byline.

All-in-all, Union were improving – Benedict Hollerbach was showing his best in flashes; it was all the returning Robert Andrich could do to claw him back, receiving a yellow card for his troubles, as Union’s young striker burst past him in the hinterland between the half-way line and 18-yard box.

Wooyeong Jeong turned his man delightfully shortly after, but neither Tim Skarke nor Christopher Trimmel could make contact as they reached for the ball at the back post. The South Korean international got Union’s first shot on target after 26 minutes of play, when he bent one with his right, having created an inch of space, if too close to Lukas Hradecky in the Leverkusen goal.

Alongside the fizzing Hollerbach, Jeong had been one of Union’s brightest players, but it was not on the ball that he would make the biggest difference – as he ghosted away into space towards the back post, Hollerbach started upon yet another of his mazy dances goalwards. He dropped his shoulder, his curly locks bouncing with each short step, and drove the ball across goal where Jeong was waiting to stab home for the equaliser. It was his second goal since signing in the summer from Stuttgart – few have come as gladly.

It had been a hell of a wait, but Union, finally, had scored again, and the weight lifted off their shoulders as they came together to celebrate was clear to see.

The hosts were certainly seeing more of the ball as half-time loomed – Kemlein, particularly, always showing for it, then moving it on as quickly as he could. His pass to Skarke, cutting between the Bayer lines, required Edmond Tapsoba’s full attention, before his sudden cut-back across the edge of the Leverkusen box was the right idea, yet slightly undercooked.

Hollerbach finished the half in typical fashion – attacking down the left-hand side with the ball glued to his feet, clipping it into the box, with only Tapsoba’s header getting in the way, looping the ball back into Hradecky’s safe hands.

Bayer get the rub of the green, as Wirtz creates Schick’s winner

Following another Trimmel free-kick lofted in towards the box, Schick caused a moment of panic at the other end, as somehow his short, sharp shot edged towards the back post, however Vogt was on hand to make sure that nothing more came of it (he would make three more headed clearances from Frimpong’s crosses over the next five minutes, each time calmer than the last). Rönnow held the ball as cleanly as he would a minute later from a corner, towering into the now darkened skies, only one thing on his mind.

The game was very much open by now – the ball barrelling from one side to the other, with tackles being thundered into, some punished, others, inexplicably, waved away; Trimmel would receive a yellow card after letting the referee know in no uncertain terms what he thought of one such decision, after Skarke had been brought down by Tapsoba to no avail.

Skarke was still gainfully trying to lead the line, and he headed another Trimmel corner wide of the near post. Khedira’s tackle on Andrich, coming in from behind with ten minutes played, meanwhile, was as clean as a whistle, but he caught the former Unioner with the next one. It was Andrich’s last touch, and he was replaced by the ‘Golden Boy’ of German football – Florian Wirtz, shortly after.

On a day of the finest of margins, Wirtz would be the one to make the difference.

Once again, Leverkusen upped the pressure, and Schick could and should have done better than blazing his shot over the bar with just over an hour gone – or at least that's what Wirtz’s gesture afterwards would have suggested.

Svensson soon brought on Yorbe Vertessen for Skarke, but it was the striking pair who remained – Yeong and Hollerbach, who again combined for Union’s next chance, as the former forced Hradecky off his line to intervene as he bore down on goal.

With 20 minutes remaining, once more Union were behind. Wirtz combined with Hincapie, hitting his cross in from the right-hand side where Schick was on hand to bundle the ball past Rönnow with his chest.

Union continued to battle away, and it wasn’t until the 80th minute that Svensson made any further changes, bringing on Robert Skov, Andras Schäfer and – making his first appearance since the end of last season, Josip Juranović for Khedira, Trimmel and Jeong.

If Juranović’s first-touch was one of the raking balls up the right-hand side he is so well known for, his second was even more typical; a free-kick bent into the box which Doekhi headed up and over the bar. It was a combination that had borne fruit so often before, as the ball dropped just over, there were many in the stadium who thought it might just nestle under the bar.

Svensson’s final throw of the dice came with just over five minutes of normal time to play, when Kevin Volland made his first league appearance of the season, replacing Leopold Querfeld. A striker for a centre-half. An experienced head for that of the talented youth.

And, if Union were to leave it open at the back, then Vogt was there to plug them, making two wonderful challenges in a row – one on Schick, then Wirtz, having shown his pace earlier when he outpaced the lightning Frimpong to a loose long ball.

Yet, for all the fight that they had shown, it was just not meant to be. Svensson was circumspect after the players had drifted away from the pitch, and the fans dawdled from the terraces that they had filled long after the final whistle went.

“Leverkusen are simply a top team,” he said. “So, it's obviously difficult to create chances. In the end, the way we played was good, but we still lost.”

He couldn’t have summed it up much better, as a grimace of a smile played across his lips. His side will play worse than this this season and win.