Bundesliga
Union Berlin and Freiburg had chances and both teams struck the woodwork but could not find the net as they played out a goalless draw in the German capital on Wednesday.
Only Bayer Leverkusen had scored more goals in the opening 15 minutes of Bundesliga games this season, but the visitors league-leading defence looked far more likely to concede early on as Union tore into them. Sheraldo Becker — preferred to Max Kruse — called Mark Flekken into action, and then teed up Taiwo Awoniyi, who should have scored his 10th league goal of the season but sent his close-range effort over the crossbar. At the opposite end, the woodwork rattled when Andreas Luthe turned a long-distance Maximilian Eggestein drive onto the bar and he then anticipated well to beat Woo-yeong Jeong to a through ball as Freiburg — who started the game one place and two points better off than their opponents — saw their grip on fifth place sorely tested in the opening half.
Undoubtedly fired up by their tempestuous, charismatic coach, Christian Streich, at half-time, Freiburg nearly forged ahead within 60 seconds of the restart: Vincenzo Grifo should have done better than fire against a post after being teed up by Lucas Höler, however. Grifo then fired over the bar from distance before Luthe denied Lukas Kübler one-on-one after Niko Gießelmann had misjudged a ball forward. Union hit back though and somehow the ball stayed out when Awoniyi struck the bar and Kübler blocked a Rani Khedira shot on the goal-line in a heart-stopping goalmouth scramble. Grischa Prömel came desperately close to making a connection with a cross that surely would have seen him break the deadlock at the Stadion an der Alten Försterei. Höler passed up one last opportunity - heading wide when well placed late on - while Philipp Lienhart headed straight at Luthe as the spoils were shared.
Union: Luthe – Jaeckel, Knoche, Baumgartl – Trimmel (c), Khedira, Prömel, Gießelmann – Haraguchi (Möhwald 72') – Becker (Voglsammer 86'), Awoniyi (Behrens 72')
Unused subs: Ronnow, Van Drongelen, Ryerson, Oczipka, Endo, Kruse
Out: Busk (ill), Friedrich (ill)
Coach: Urs Fischer
Freiburg: Flekken – Lienhart, K. Schlotterbeck, N. Schlotterbeck – Kübler, Eggestein (Haberer 86'), Höfler, Günter (c) - Jeong (Schade 77'), Höler (Petersen 89'), Grifo (Sallai 77')
Unused subs: Uphoff, Heintz, Sildillia, Weißhaupt, Demirovic
Out: Keitel (muscular), Schmid (match fitness)
Coach: Christian Streich