Thanks to a flattering point win at 1. FC Union Berlin, SC Freiburg remains in the top tier of the Bundesliga.

The Breisgauer from coach Christian Streich came on Wednesday in the capital despite major problems at times to a 0-0 and with difficulty prevented a well-deserved victory for the Iron.

For Union, the point win in the last home game of the year meant that they were defeated only once in the league in 2021, regardless of the season, at the home stadium An der Alten Försterei.

Berlin is also still in the upper half of the table after the 16th matchday.

Three days after the defeat at bottom SpVgg Greuther Fürth (0: 1), Union was looking for quick reparations. Taiwo Awoniyi came dangerously for the first time after 34 seconds and justified his appointment to the starting XI. The Nigerian international played for Max Kruse and faced two former Berliners in defense of the guests. The Breisgauer acted in their defense chain with the brothers Nico and Keven Schlotterbeck, who had each been loaned to the Köpenicker for one season.

Aside from the furious 6-0 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Freiburg's surprise team recently had some difficulties and also struggled in the capital.

Maximilian Eggestein hit the crossbar against Union's compact defense (5th) and Woo-Yeong Jeong was suddenly alone in front of goal (33rd), but the hosts still dominated the match and had Genki Haraguchi (20th) or again Awoniyi (23rd) deserved to take the lead.

Only 5000 spectators - and thus less than a quarter of the usual backdrop in Berlin-Köpenick - were allowed to be in the stands due to the Corona regulations.

Only about 30 seconds after the restart, they saw Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo run towards the Union goal, but shot just wide.

The chance, however, was more of an exception, because the Berliners usually stopped the Freiburg team in front of the penalty area even without their defense chief Marvin Friedrich, who was not yet able to return after an infection.

The more active Unioners, for their part, did not bring much together on the offensive because they lacked the necessary precision in front of the guest goal.

In the duel between the two longest-serving Bundesliga coaches - Urs Fischer with Union since 2018, Christian Streich with Freiburg since 2011 - Lukas Kübler missed the best chance for Freiburg in the 56th minute.

After a mistake by Unions Niko Gießelmann, the defender appeared free in front of Andreas Luthe, but shot the goalkeeper powerfully in the chest.

In the 66th minute, Union had multiple chances to take the lead.

After a corner there was chaos in the Freiburg penalty area, the ball flickered back and forth between defenders and attackers.

Awoniyi headed the crossbar, then Kübler saved a shot from Rani Khedira on the line before goalkeeper Mark Flekken fished a weak header from Grischa Prömel out of the air.

But because the guests defended with many legs and with success against the tireless Berliners, the game remained goalless.