A quick lead, a hand penalty and a brace from the goalscorer. There is nothing to gain for Augsburg at Borussia Park. Gladbach has never won at home this season by as many as they did on Sunday afternoon.
With their second home win of the season, Borussia Mönchengladbach moved away from the relegation zone in the Bundesliga and plunged FC Augsburg into great difficulties. The Gladbachers took on the 15th place in the table on Sunday. with 4:0 (3:0) and took tenth place in the table.
The Augsburg team suffered their fourth away defeat in a row under their new coach Manuel Baum and are now only two points ahead of a direct relegation zone. In front of 51,050 spectators at Borussia Park, Joe Scally (8th minute), Kevin Diks (20th/hand penalty) and Haris Tabakovic (38th/61st) scored the goals for the hosts.
The Augsburg team came to Borussia Park with major defensive personnel concerns. In addition to the suspended Dimitrios Giannoulis and the injured defense chief Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, Christian Matsima also had to pass. The 23-year-old has torn his thigh vision and will not be available to the team for a long time. Accordingly, Baum had to switch to three positions. Returnee Michael Gregoritsch initially stayed on the bench. “The onboarding was extremely short,” said the FCA coach.
Before the guests could orientate themselves in the defensive network, the ball was already in the Augsburg goal. After a pass from Luca Netz, Scally first failed to score from close range with his right, then in the second attempt with his left – his first goal of the season. Twelve minutes later the hosts increased the score. Diks converted a hand penalty that Mats Pedersen had caused shortly before.
Early leadership ensured security
The quick lead gave the hosts security in their game. Coach Eugen Polanski only changed his formation in one position compared to the last game in Dortmund. Franck Honorat came into the starting line-up for Giovanni Reyna. New signing Kota Takai remained on the reserve bench for the time being, with the Japanese coming on as a substitute in the final stages.
The decision in favor of the hosts was practically made before the break. A sharp corner from Netz was converted by Tabakovic with his head to make it 3-0. The goal also withstood the VAR review. Up until then, Augsburg had had few offensive scenes. Alexis Claude-Maurice didn’t use one of them either. A year ago he scored all three goals for FCA in the 3-0 win at Borussia Park.
The guests became a little more powerful after the break, but with the first dangerous attack, Tabakovic increased the score to 4-0 with the next header after work from Honorat. It was his ninth goal of the season. This makes the 31-year-old more than just a replacement for Tim Kleindienst, who is working on his comeback after an injury.
jb/dpa
