Sport victory against Union Berlin
FC Augsburg is knocking louder and louder in Europe
Status: 12.04.2024 | Reading time: 4 minutes
FC Augsburg continued its excellent second half of the season. The Swabians won against Union Berlin at the start of the 29th matchday. The gap to fifth place in the table is now only three points.
After a blackout by Union Berlin’s Diogo Leite, FC Augsburg has submitted in the fight for Europe. Thanks to the 2-0 (0-0) home win on Friday evening, football coach Jess Thorup’s team temporarily reduced the gap to sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt to just three points.
“An awesome feeling. Anyone who is a real fan will see that something has come together here. We are a family with the fans together. Something has grown together here. “It was a great evening, even if it wasn’t a nice game,” said Augsburg’s goalscorer Phillip Tietz.
At the same time, Augsburg, in seventh place, extended their lead over TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg to three points. If the as-good-as-champions Bayer Leverkusen also win the DFB Cup, seventh place will also be enough for the Europa Conference League playoffs.
“We gave everything away today. The first goal completely turned the game around. “Augsburg was really lucky to have had us as opponents today,” said Union coach Nenad Bjelica angrily and sharpened his senses: “We are heavily involved in the relegation battle. Anyone who doesn’t understand that has no business at Union. It’s about existence. This club has to stay in the Bundesliga.”
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The Berliners often presented themselves as determined on the offensive. Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough to finally defeat Augsburg in the eighth Bundesliga game in a row. Diogo Leite played a significant role in this, whose failed back pass was used by Tietz (47th) to score the redeeming FCA goal in front of 29,731 spectators. Joker Sven Michel, who used to play for Union, made everything clear in the 81st minute. With a further six points lead over relegation place 16, the Berliners remain in the relegation battle.
The relegation worries are back: Union Berlin’s Danilho Doekhi (left) and Alex Kral
Source: dpa/Tom Weller
“In a game like this, a goal is the can opener for the opponent,” said Union veteran Christopher Trimmel. Teammate Benedict Hollerbach agreed: “We got into it really well and were very dominant in the first ten minutes. I had a good feeling. It’s obviously annoying that we concede a goal like that. The goal is caused by a bad pass and not by a combination.”
Augsburg takes advantage of Union’s mistakes
In the absence of the injured right-backs Kevin Mbabu and Robert Gumny, Jess Thorup initially opted for an experiment with a three-man defense in the 3-1 defeat against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim a week ago. There was no sign of that against Union. From kick-off, Maximilian Bauer, a trained central defender, occupied the right flank.
The Augsburg team, who were also missing the injured Kristijan Jakic, Iago and Fredrik Jensen, initially got themselves into trouble against one of the Bundesliga’s weakest offensive teams. Defender Jeffrey Gouweleeuw missed a long ball, goalkeeper Finn Dahmen had to sprint out of the goal and save from Hollerbach (12th). This scene only raised the pulse of the Augsburg fans for a very short time.
The Berliners tried to get to the top quickly and directly. And Bjelica’s team always managed this surprisingly well. After a combination via Hollerbach and Mikkel Kaufmann, Alex Kral (26th) slid past a cross by just a few centimeters and was ready to take a shot.
And the Augsburg people? They lacked courage in the first half. They developed neither speed nor force when moving forward. They ended the first 45 minutes without a shot on goal.
Augsburg had Leite to thank for their dream start to the second half. The central defender played a back pass straight into Tietz’s feet without any pressure. The former Darmstadt player scored his eighth goal of the season. However, FC Augsburg did not gain any security after the opening goal. Michel, who was just not offside, at least made things clear late on, according to video evidence.
“When you’re at the bottom, you don’t have the greatest self-confidence. We always struggle a bit when we have the ball, but Augsburg also defended well. There wasn’t enough of us offensively today. We are simply too imprecise, especially in the last third. We have to start there,” said Trimmel.
