Bundesliga Player Ratings 2 -0 Union Berlin
Julian Schuster's SC Freiburg have responded to Bundesliga matchday nine victories from Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and RB Leipzig with one of their own. Schuster's Breisgauer secured their sixth Bundesliga victory of the 2026/27 campaign, consolidating their top-four place as European football heads into the final international break of the 2026 calendar year.
Freiburg will spend the next weeks in third place in the Bundesliga table after defeating Union Berlin 2-0 at home. Fresher guests put up sustained early fight Schuster made four changes tothe team he fielded in Thursday's Conference League encounter in Trabzon.
Recently recalled German national team right back Philipp Treu was deemed fit enough to return to the starting XI, moving Thursday's goal-scorer Lukas Kübler back to the bench. In attack, Yuito Suzuki, Jan-Niklas Beste, and Treu'sfellow German national team recall Derry Scherhanttook over for Cyriaqué Irié, Keisuke Goto, and Vincenzo Grifo.
Lustrinelli, by contrast, stuck with the XI that earned his team their third consecutive league draw against Köln last weekend. The fact that the visitors from Köpenick possessed a full week of rest was certainly apparent in the opening minutes.
Union pressed hard off the ball and managed to disrupt the favored side's rhythm over the course of the opening ten minutes. Freiburg found themselves prone to turnovers, plenty of misplaced passes, and blocked shots as they attempted to drive toward the FCU net.
Igor Matanovic placed a header on target in the 9th minute, a relatively soft effort that at least constituted the Breisgau club's first attempt on goal. Impressively enough, Lustrinelli's charges continued to stand their ground as the quarter-of-an-hour mark passed.
The hosts did begin looking more comfortable in possession, but Union ensured that Freiburg at no point looked truly dangerous. Scherhant worked his way into the box on a couple of occasions, and there were more crosses sent in Matanovic's direction.
Freiburg nevertheless remained without a genuine scoring chance. Even off a free kick in a promising position (19th), a potentially dangerous long throw (20th), and a full scramble in front of the net (24th), Schuster's men simply couldn't threaten.
Freiburg can't pick the FCU lock Despite trying what appeared to be every last possible permutation on attack builds, Schuster's men simply couldn't achieve the breakthrough. A match that, admittedly, featured some sloppy play from both teams descended into a prolonged lull as halftime approached.