Augsburg have secured their first three points of 2020 after coming from behind to beat Werder Bremen 2-1. The victory not only ended Augsburg’s poor run against Bremen, but was also a big step towards safety.

Martin Schmidt was forced to make one change to the team that lost 2-0 at Union Berlin last weekend. Andreas Luthe replaced the ill Tomas Koubek in goal, subsequently making his first appearance of the season. Benjamin Leneis was on the bench.

FCA took control of the game from the off and looked to get forward quickly after winning possession. It did, however, take the hosts 19 minutes to force visiting keeper Jiri Pavlenka into action. Ruben Vargas’ powerful shot was well saved by the Czech shotstopper. Werder then took the lead with their first dangerous moment of the game. A long ball saw Davie Selke one-on-one with Luthe. His shot was cleared by Jeffrey Gouweleeuw into Tin Jedvaj and rebounded into the back of the net (23’).

Florian Niederlechner’s free kick in the 28th minute couldn’t beat Pavlenka, meaning Werder went in to the break ahead after their slightly fortunate goal.

Niederlechner equalises – Vargas completes the comeback

Schmidt brought on Alfred Finnbogason for Andre Hahn for the second half – and the Icelandic striker was directly involved. He set up Marco Richter, who couldn’t convert in the 56th minute. FCA piled the pressure on and Richter missed two further chances, and also had one chalked off due to offside. Leonardo Bittencourt also had a rare bright moment for SVW (59’).

Augsburg eventually got their equaliser and it was Niederlechner with his 11th goal of the season. His deflected goal drew the sides level in the 67th minute. Schmidt’s team knew they could go on to win the game and they found a second goal with eight minutes to go. Finnbogason fed Vargas, who cut inside and curled home to make it 2-1 and seal the win.

Augsburg are now seven points clear of Werder in the Bundesliga table. It was also FCA’s first victory over SVW after four straight defeats. The next game will take place on Friday, 7th February (20:30 CET) away at Eintracht Frankfurt.

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