A few days after the 5-2 defeat in the Champions League against Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga.
At home a force, powerless away: Borussia Dortmund has also been a huge disappointment in the fourth Bundesliga away game of the season and has suffered a bitter setback.
Four days after the 5-2 thrashing at Real Madrid, coach Nuri Sahin’s team lost 2-1 (1-1) at FC Augsburg after a weak performance and again lost important ground in the fight for the top spot. The pressure is growing ahead of the cup game on Tuesday at VfL Wolfsburg.
Donyell Malen (4th) gave BVB, who have only managed to get one point away from home so far, an early lead. Alexis Claude-Maurice equalized in the 25th minute in front of 30,660 spectators. The Frenchman even turned the game around in the 50th minute. For the FCA, who are expecting second division team Schalke 04 on Tuesday, these were important points to pull away from the bottom of the table. Dortmund have not won away in the league for more than six months, and debutant Almugera Kabar (90.+9) was shown a yellow-red card.
Sahin had vehemently defended his team in the face of recent criticism. “We’re in this together, I won’t let a player of mine throw himself under the train,” he said, and emphasized: “I’ll go through fire for my boys.”
In contrast to the Real debacle, BVB started with Waldemar Anton for the injured Niklas Süle. Otherwise, the starting XI was the same as the one that had got off to such a strong start against the Royal Blues and led 2-0 before Sahin’s substitutions caused a rift. “As a coach, you should learn from your decisions. It’s very likely that I wouldn’t make the same substitutions again,” Sahin admitted before kick-off.
His team got off to a brisk start. After a nice interplay with Serhou Guirassy, Malen finished clinically. BVB initially had more possession of the ball, but they didn’t really settle into their game. On the contrary, BVB faltered a few times. Claude-Maurice took advantage of this when he was able to stroll through midfield almost unchallenged and took a shot from around 20 meters out. In particular, national player Nico Schlotterbeck was too timid in the scene. BVB remained superior but were not very efficient.
Sahin reacted at half-time and brought Pascal Groß and Emre Can on. Can got off to a bad start when he perfectly laid on the second goal for Claude-Maurice with a completely unsuccessful defensive action. Shortly afterwards, Phillip Tietz missed the 3-1 by centimeters. Borussia was in real trouble and only rallied at the end.
The statistics for the game:
FC Augsburg: Labrovic – Matsima (82. M. Bauer), Gouweleeuw, K. Schlotterbeck – Marius Wolf (75. Koudossou), Jakic, Giannoulis – Onyeka (82. A. Maier), Rexhbecaj – Tietz (75. Essende), Claude-Maurice (82. Kabadayi)
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Ryerson (68. Kabar), Anton (46. Can), N. Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini – Sabitzer (46. Groß), F. Nmecha (63. Beier) – Malen (88. Campbell), Brandt, Gittens – Guirassy
Referee: Wolfgang Haslberger (Freising)
Spectators: 30,660 (sold out)
Goals: 0:1 Malen (4.), 1:1 Claude-Maurice (25.), 2:1 Claude-Maurice (50.)
Yellow cards: Giannoulis (2), Tietz (2), Gouweleeuw (4) / Bensebaini (4)
Yellow-red cards: – / Kabar (90.+9/repeated foul play)