1. FC Union Berlin lost 2-1 at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday afternoon. Having gone two down during the first half, Andrej Ilic scored a 63rd minute penalty, yet despite their efforts, Union could not find an equaliser.

1. FC Union Berlin: Rönnow - Juranovic, Doekhi, Diogo Leite, Skov (30. Rothe) - Haberer (63. Benes), Khedira – Skarke (46. Skarke), Jeong (85. Ljubicic), Hollerbach - Ilić (63. Prtajin)

Borussia Mönchengladbach: Nicolas (20. Omlin) - Scally (74. Lainer), Itakura, Elvedi, Ullrich - Sander, Weigl – Ngoumou (74. Friedrich), Stöger (82. Cvancara), Hack (82. Neuhaus) - Kleindienst

The starting XI:

Steffen Baumgart made only one change to the side which performed so well in last week’s 4-0 victory against Hoffenheim. Once again, ahead of Frederik Rönnow between the sticks, Baumgart opted for a back four of Robert Skov, Diogo Leite, Danilho Doekhi and Josip Juranović.

Rani Khedira and Janik Haberer were paired together in the heart of midfield behind Wooyeong Jeong, with Benedict Hollerbach on the left-hand side and Tim Skarke on the right-hand side. This left Andrej Ilic, off the back of his debut goal, making his debut in the starting line-up as a striker.

Attendance: 22.012

Goals: 0-1 Ullrich (11.), 0-2 Kleindienst (26.), 1-2 Ilic (63.)

Union start brightly, but Gladbach take the lead through Ullrich and Kleindienst

Exactly twenty-four years and one week ago, Union hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach on what would turn out to be one of the most storied nights in this beautiful stadium’s history. The lights glared brightly, as Ronny Nikol scored the winner in a penalty shootout, as the snow was piled all around, having been cleared during the day in an emergency operation. It was the fans – of course, who dusted their shovels off that day.

Despite the recent blizzards, today they did not have to do such a thing. The stadium is a different beast, just as the fears of the great Gladbach side that night had also somewhat dissipated. Union had never lost to them here until today.

And from the off, it seemed as if the status quo would hold. Josip Juranović looked to take a throw-in deep inside his own half on the right-hand side. Tim Skarke dropped deeper towards him to collect the ball, but Juranović sent him back, launching the ball up the line as far as he possibly could towards Wooyeong Jeong. This Union side is certainly not one to hold back.

Juranović added to this after a further three minutes of play, intercepting a loose ball and bursting into the space, driving a cross deep towards Robert Skov. The full-back made contact, looping the ball up with his head into what looked like safety for the Gladbach keeper, Moritz Nicolas, but it dipped onto the crossbar and away.

Robin Hack was the first to have a sniff at the other end, yet Frederik Rönnow was off his line sharply to beat him to the through ball. Nathan N’Goumou then almost sent Tim Kleindienst through with a similar ball, though from the right-hand side this time. However, Union’s talismanic stopper was there to sweep up the danger once more.

Gladbach’s threat was continuing to grow, and sure enough they took the lead with ten minutes on the clock. Lukas Ulrich ran onto another one of those slid-in balls, this time from Hack, having laid it off himself from collecting the ball within the centre-circle. He lashed his first-time effort home, past the helpless Rönnow, who this time did not stand a chance.

The Gladbach keeper, Nicolas, who had played only a single game, too, in the colours of Union back in the first Bundesliga season, pulled up after quarter of an hour. The players headed to the touchline as his replacement, Jonas Omlin, got himself prepared. Omlin’s start was tricky one, and he immediately found himself with the ball at his feet with Andrej Ilic bearing down on him. He turned and just managed to get the ball out from under his feet in time.

Union’s greatest threat was coming from the right-hand side. First, Danilho Doekhi got his head on the ball to a huge cross, but again it looped just over, grazing the top of the crossbar on its way, before Joseph Scally then managed to get ahead of Ilic after Benedict Hollerbach whipped a cross into the box, nipping the ball away for a corner at full stretch.

Despite Union’s efforts, it was Gladbach who would score their second on the 25th minute mark. The always dangerous N’Goumou hit the byline and squared for their top-scorer, Kleindienst. He finished without pause, having ghosted into a patch of space inside the six-yard box.

To make matters even worse, Robert Skov then pulled up injured. Rani Khedira took one look at him and immediately signalled to the bench. He would have to depart, replaced by Tom Rothe.

As the half wore on, Union were struggling to find their earlier momentum on a pitch which was cutting up, causing both Itakura and Omlin to slip whilst attempting to hit long passes. Khedira’s own stumble almost saw Philipp Sander sent away through yet another gap that suddenly opened in Union’s high backline.

Hack drove an effort over from just outside the box with almost 40 minutes played, while it took a superbly timed slide from Diogo Leite to clear N’Goumou’s low cross in from the right-hand side. Rönnow had to scramble to clear a wickedly dropping ball from sneaking in at his right-hand post.

With six minutes added on, Union could consider themselves fortunate not to have conceded again. Hack fired a superb shot which dipped from distance onto the crossbar and back out into the box, before Rönnow frantically managed to stick a leg out to deny N’Goumou at his near post.

Suddenly, with time almost up, Hollerbach flickered into gear, holding off his man and crossing low where it took Itakura’s full attention to stop Ilic from getting his shot on target.

The ball squirmed away and almost as soon as it had gone out of play, the players turned for the tunnel.

Union’s pressure leads to Ilic’s converted penalty – but Gladbach hold on for the victory

Baumgart changed things up at the break, bringing Leopold Querfeld on for Skarke, and with it, moving to a back three, the young Austrian international dropping into the middle. His first touch was a peach of a pass directed out to Juranović on the right-hand side, who crossed immediately towards Ilic, but Nico Elvedi got in the way, steering the ball away from Union’s striker, if a little dangerously towards his own back post.

Union tried to seize the moment, winning yet another corner through Leite. A moment of panic ensued in the Gladbach ranks packed into the box as the ball ricocheted around, eventually whacked away. It dropped to Hollerbach, but as he looked to turn back towards his own goal, Baumgart, a couple of metres away, demanded that he try to keep it moving forwards.

Hollerbach would have the next big opportunity when, though his strike was well struck, it was too close to Omlin who parried it away, with Leite slicing his follow up well wide. Union were playing much better now, stringing passes together, Jeong, particularly, causing problems down the right-hand side. There were huge calls for a penalty when Rothe was pushed in the back by Kleindienst inside the box as Union upped the pressure.

“I wanted to go up for the cross, then I felt the push from behind and so I had no chance,” said Rothe, later. Play carried on with the full-back on the ground. Joseph Scally conceded a corner on the hour mark as Ilic loomed behind him, yet this was rendered irrelevant as the referee, Sven Jablonski, put his hand against his ear to suggest that the infringement was being checked after all. The wait dragged on and on, but eventually the penalty was awarded. “I think it was the right decision,” said Rothe.

Ilic stepped up, stuttering his run, before sending Omlin the wrong way and blasting the ball to the keeper’s right. Union were back in it.

It was Ilic’s second goal in two games; however, it was also to be his last touch of the day as Ivan Prtajin was already preparing to come on alongside László Bénes, replacing Janik Haberer.

Union poured forwards, as Bénes whipped a beautiful ball in from the left-hand side, before Rothe saw his shot deflected off the unwitting Doekhi and away past the back post. Juranović, constantly involved up and down the wing, was incensed as he was bundled over under Ullrich’s challenge, before dusting himself down and stopping his argument with the linesman to hit another of many balls into the box without even taking a breath.

However, Union still had to rely on Rönnow, who made an outstanding save from Kleindienst when the Gladbach striker seemed certain to score, having drifted into acres of space behind Union’s defence. Yet, the ever-reliable Rönnow stayed on his feet, outstaring Kleindienst, forcing him to shoot across his body and parrying as he did so.

Union were the main aggressors now, but Gladbach were repelling their attempts, standing firm as the crowd roared their side on. Baumgart made his final change with just over five minutes remaining, bringing on last week's hero, home-debutant; Marin Ljubičić, on for Jeong. Hollerbach then had a shot blocked, while Querfeld’s header did simply not have enough purchase on it to cause Omlin any trouble.

As six minutes of added time were displayed, Prtajin dragged his effort on the turn wide, and Elvedi managed to rob the ball off Hollerbach after Khedira’s meandering run across the middle had opened just the slightest of gaps.

Juranović then hit one final ball into the box which Doekhi attacked, memories flashing back to his winner here at the death against Gladbach a couple of seasons ago. Though, somehow, still, Omlin scrambled across his goal to collect the spinning ball. In all truth, Doekhi’s contact was not strong enough.

“In our situation, it's going to happen again and again that you concede a goal against a strong team,” said Baumgart after the final whistle. “Then you need solutions and, in my opinion, we had them too late today. But with a little luck, we could have even equalised in the second half. Overall, this shows that we are able to get ourselves out of such situations. Now we need to gain more self-confidence from this.”

The final whistle blew almost straight afterwards and with it, Union’s hex over Gladbach at home was over. Every run has to come to an end some day.