Union Berlin 's 1-0 victory over Freiburg on Sunday night had many important moments, but none were bigger than the performance of goalkeeper Matheo Raab .
Making his Bundesliga debut, Raab produced a series of crucial saves and finished the match despite suffering a painful hand injury late on.His final stop in the closing minutes helped preserve Union's narrow lead and ultimately secure all three points.
After the match, Raab admitted the injury did not look encouraging: "Regarding my hand injury, it doesn't look that good,"he said. "I've had serious problems with this hand before."
Despite the pain, the goalkeeper had no intention of leaving the pitch during the decisive final moments: "I felt extreme pain, but I wanted to finish the last minutes,"Raab explained.
One of those moments included a spectacular late save that kept Freiburg from equalising - a moment the goalkeeper himself looked back on with pride. "The save at the end looks nice," he said with a smile. "I'm very happy about my Bundesliga debut. Forget the hand, forget the injury - I'm happy."
Union head coach Steffen Baumgart was full of praise for his goalkeeper after the match and highlighted the resilience Raab has shown throughout his career.
"If you take a closer look at Matheo, you know he has had many setbacks in his career," Baumgart said. "Whether as number two or number one, he gives our team a lot."
For Baumgart, Raab's determination to continue despite injury perfectly summed up his character: "Today, despite the injury, he showed his character and made really great saves,"the Union coach said.
In fact, Baumgart had no doubt about who the decisive player on the pitch had been: "He was our matchwinner today."
On a night when Union Berlin needed resilience and composure to protect their slender lead, Raab delivered both - pain and all - to cap a memorable Bundesliga debut.
