FC Augsburg hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach at the WWK Arena on matchday 17. The hosts secured a 1-0 win on Wednesday evening thanks to a late goal.

Enrico Maaßen made one change to the team that lost 4-3 at Dortmund on Sunday. Mergim Berisha replaced the injured Ruben Vargas up front to partner new signing Dion Beljo. Ermedin Demirović started on the left wing.

The first home game of 2023 was a lot less exciting than Sunday’s end-to-end game at Dortmund. Augsburg had two early shots, with Arne Maier’s effort going over (6’) and Gladbach’s new goalkeeper Jonas Omlin parrying away a powerful strike from Berisha (9’).

The visitors took until the 19th minute for their first notable attack, when Stefan Lainer’s shot went wide. The ball was in the back of the Gladbach net after 36 minutes, though the goal was eventually ruled out by VAR. A corner from the left was flicked on by Gumny and Omlin failed to cleanly gather the high ball. Beljo was on hand to score the rebound, but Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, who challenged for the ball with Omlin, was in an offside position and so the goal didn’t stand. 

Maaßen’s team continued to search for a goal before the break. Demirović missed the target (44’) and then Berisha’s free-kick struck Christoph Kramer in the head on the stroke of half time. Unfortunately, the Borussia midfielder had to be taken off after this blow. 

Yeboah cross, Berisha goal

Augsburg started the second half brightly and saw Arne Maier flash a shot just wide (52’). A minute later, Omlin tipped a hit from Berisha over the bar. Arne Engels was once again impressive and his corner in the 64th minute proved dangerous. Captain Gouweeleuw met it and headed against the outside of the post.

Maaßen brought on Kelvin Yeboah to freshen up the attack (66’), before Niklas Dorsch made his comeback after a long spell out injured (81’). He’d only been on the pitch for a minute when Augsburg finally broke the deadlock. Yeboah received a long ball from Engels and then put a cross into the centre of the box. That picked out Berisha and he sensationally flicked it into the back of the net (82’). FCA were then able to hold on for a deserved victory!

Thanks to tonight’s victory, only the second home win of the season, FCA are now up to 14th. Next up is a trip to SC Freiburg on Saturday, 28th January (15:30 CET).

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