Leipzig certainly justified their status as the best of the rest last weekend after thrashing Eintracht Frankfurt 6-0, but anything near to that always looked unlikely, with their early dominance on the ball counting for little.
Indeed, it was the hosts who had the first shot of the game, as Woo-yeong Jeong blazed over from 20 yards after flicking the ball over visiting centre-back Willi Orbán, before Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow made the first save of the evening, superbly pushing Yan Diomande’s strike wide after the Ivorian had gone on a mazy run.
Ronnow was then called into action again from the resulting corner, displaying sharp reflexes to keep out Christoph Baumgartner’s powerful header.
The final opportunity of the first half however fell to Union’s Janik Haberer, who bundled Derrick Kohn’s cross scruffily wide, although in his defence, he may have lost the flight of the ball with bodies in front of him.
In truth, some fans will have found the mist enveloping Stadion An der Alten Forsterei as engrossing as the football.
But the second half was a different story, with the mist clearing in time for Union supporters to get a crystal-clear view of their opening goal on 57 minutes. Leipzig right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic was dispossessed by Aljoscha Kemlein before the ball was worked to the right-hand side and Oliver Burke, who fashioned some space and got the ball onto his left foot to unerringly guide it into Peter Gulacsi’s top right-hand corner.
The moment was particularly sweet for the Scot against his old club, but Leipzig were very quickly level. Union substitute captain Christopher Trimmel was the culprit, as he conceded possession cheaply, with Conrad Harder finding teenager Tidiam Gomis, who slammed in his first-ever goal for the club with aplomb.
Diomande was then tackled superbly by Kohn as he looked to complete the turnaround, before Union dramatically and quickly retook the lead as Trimmel made amends for his earlier error with a pinpoint cross which was headed in with conviction by the unmarked Ilyas Ansah.
Union will have braced for a fierce Leipzig response given their attacking firepower, but Ole Werner’s men were feeble in the closing stages, and were punished late on as Tim Skarke lashed home to seal a famous home win.
Leipzig have now won just three of their eight Bundesliga away matches this season and face the prospect of being leapfrogged by Borussia Dortmund later this weekend, while Union, who were marshalled excellently by young defender Leopold Querfeld, are now up to eighth.
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Flashscore Man of the Match: Leopold Querfeld (Union Berlin)