Augsburg 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
A goal in each half from Dong-Won Ji gave Augsburg three vital points at the WWK Arena and dealt a huge blow to Dortmund’s hopes of winning the Bundesliga.
Head coach Manuel Baum masterminded a brilliant performance from the hosts to withstand a lot of pressure, conceding possession, and taking their chances when they came. Ji was clinical, but Lucien Favre now has a big task to lift his players who misfired tonight. With FC Bayern breathing down their necks the, Bundesliga 2019 betting odds have swung towards Bavaria.
For Augsburg, it was a massive and unexpected win, one which has taken them five points clear of the drop zone. Make no mistake; this was one of the Bundesliga 2019 results of the year.
Highlights of the game
Marco Reus’ long-awaited return from injury was a big boost to Dortmund’s title hopes. He had the first attempt on goal, but his shot was saved after Jacob Brun Larsen teed up his chance. Augsburg fought back, and Phillip Max had a low shot saved in the corner by BVB’s keeper Roman Burki.
Jadon Sancho put in a man-of-the-match performance in Dortmund’s win over Bayer Leverkusen last week, and he’s always likely to create a spark; and when Achraf Hakimi found him in space in the centre of the box, his shot was charged down.
But if anyone thought the league leaders would have a comfortable ride in Augsburg, a warning came on 18 minutes when Burki was forced into another save. This time, Michael Gregoritsch passed to Georg Teigl, and his shot from the left side of the penalty area was stopped in the bottom left corner. The hosts were having a good spell and got their reward on 24 minutes. Andre Hahn crossed for Dong-Won Ji and his shot was blocked, but when Ji had a second chance he slammed the ball high into the top left corner to send the 30,000 fans wild.
Borussia tried to hit back before the break. Despite being out injured for weeks, Marco Reus is still in the hunt to be Bundesliga top scorer with 13 goals — only two behind Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic who has 15 — and he came very close to an equaliser when he met a cross from Abdou Diallo, but his header flew agonisingly wide.
Axel Witsel had a shot blocked, and when Mario Gotze put Brun Larsen in on goal, Gregor Kobel saved to keep the hosts ahead at the break.
Augsburg looked relatively comfortable in the opening stages of the second half and Ji had a chance to make it two when he reached a cross from Jonathan Schmid, but his shot flew past the post.
It had been a difficult return for Reus as he was substituted on 65 minutes to be replaced by Paco Alcacer. But things got a whole lot worse for the league leaders a minute later when Ji had another chance, and this time, he had no hesitation in firing the ball low into the bottom right corner beyond the reach of Burki.
Dortmund were stunned. As much as the visitors tried to get back into the game, they couldn’t turn possession into goals. Corners came and went but the BVB strikers couldn’t hit the target. But then, with ten minutes to go Paco Alcacer grabbed a lifeline for the visitors. Gotze found the substitute in the centre of the penalty area and he fired into the bottom corner.
With three minutes of normal time remaining, Alcacer passed to Gotze and he took aim from just outside the penalty area but his shot was well saved by Kobel, diving low to his left.
Key statistics
Dortmund dominated the first half possession with 72 per cent of the ball, and the visitors won the first half shot count at eight to six, with both sides having three shots on target.
Favre’s side had the two most clear cut chances of the opening 45 minutes but found themselves a goal down.
The visitors had 72 per cent of the ball in the second half and increased their shot count to 17 to Augsburg’s nine. But there’s only one statistic that matters…2-1!
What’s next?
BVB has a three-goal deficit to overturn when they meet Spurs in the Champions League next week, we’ll be right there with SBOBET. Then Favre’s team is at home to Stuttgart as they try to get their title campaign back on track.
It’s RB Leipzig away next for Augsburg, and that’s another really tough task for Baum’s team. Their opponents are up in fourth place and fighting hard to win a Champions League place. After tonight’s performance, they’ll go to Leipzig with renewed hope.
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