Augsburg earn a deserved 1-0 victory over Leipzig

The floodlights were on, the stage was set. FC Augsburg didn’t disappoint their home support as they beat Champions League participants RB Leipzig 1-0. It was their third league victory in a row, and the game’s only goal was scored by newly signed Michael Gregoritsch. FCA’s head coach Manuel Baum named two changes to the starting eleven that played in the 2-1 away victory against Frankfurt, as Michael Gregoritsch and Jan Moravek took the places of Ja-Cheol Koo and Marcel Heller. It was also a special game for Rani Khedira, who moved to Augsburg in the summer after three years with Die Roten Bullen. FCA looked dangerous going forward from the outset, which forced Leipzig onto the defensive. Yvon Mvogo had trouble dealing with the first high ball which came his way, although Michael Gregoritsch couldn’t capitalise on the fumbled rebound. It didn’t take long for Augsburg to make use of their early pressure though. Caiuby pushed forward after winning the ball back in midfield and passed the ball inaccurately to Alfred Finnbogason, but the Icelander won it back and found Gregoritsch in the box, who made no mistake from short range to score his first goal in Augsburg colours (4’). Manuel Baum’s team didn’t hold back after taking the lead though, and continued to create various opportunities in front of goal.  After a beautiful bit of link up play from Finnbogason and Gregoritsch, the Austrian shot from the left hand side of the box - but it just missed the far corner (12’). Marwin Hitz was doing his part at the other end of the pitch too, as a strong reflex save denied the dangerous Timo Werner from close range (14’). The game continued to be packed with action, in which both teams showed lots of attacking creativity. However, shots from Marcel Sabitzer and Daniel Baier both narrowly missed the target. Hitz comes out on top in battle with Werner In the 25 minutes that followed, Marwin Hitz’s goal was threatened consistently. The ball found Timo Werner after a fortuitous bounce off an Augsburg defender, but the Leipzig man’s shot was again smothered by Hitz. Hinteregger came close in the 38th minute, but that was the last of the action in a first half that ended with FCA deservedly in the lead. Leipzig upped the pressure after the break, but this left space for the home side to hit them on the break. Caiuby took adavantage of this in the 50th minute, and another strong run from the Brazilian  set up Philipp Max to take a shot at goal, but his attempt was saved well by Mvogo Nganoma with his left knee. Even when Leipzig had more possession, they found it hard to make any progress into the FCA penalty area. Leipzig push for the equaliser In the closing stages, Leipzig had the ball more and more in the Augsburg half, and another good chance fell to the substitute Emil Forsberg as a result. The Swedish attacker narrowly missed however (75’). FCA continued to try and get free on the counter attack, and came very close to doubling their lead. However, Marcel Heller could not convert an open header from Daniel Opare’s pinpoint cross for the home side (84’). No more clear chances came for either team in the closing stages, and after the final whistle FCA could finally celebrate their third win in succession.