Union Berlin snuck past Freiburg into second place in the Bundesliga as Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen continued their upward trend since the 2010 World Cup winner took over as manager last month. After a crushing loss to Leverkusen over the weekend, Union lost a lead they had held since September, and Bayern Munich reclaimed the top spot in the Bundesliga standings. However, a 2-2 draw with Augsburg and Freiburg's 3-1 defeat at RB Leipzig allowed them to go back into second place on goal differential before their next game before the World Cup break, which is next weekend against Freiburg.
Sheraldo Becker, a Dutch-Surinamese forward for Union, has been essential to the team's top-tier performance. And after he gave Union an early lead, Florian Niederlechner equalized a minute later. Union had regained the lead thanks to Kevin Behrens, but Niederlechner scored again just before halftime to force a draw.