FC Augsburg secured an important victory in the relegation battle and took a step towards survival after convincingly beating VfL Wolfsburg 3-0. The Fuggerstädter took the lead in the first minute of the game.

Head coach Markus Weinzierl made five changes to the side who lost 3-2 in Stuttgart before the international break. Robert Gumny, Niklas Dorsch, Mads Pedersen, Florian Niederlechner and Ricardo Pepi all came into the side in place of Frederik Winther, Carlos Gruezo and André Hahn (all bench), Ruben Vargas (tonsillitis) and Michael Gregoritsch (quarantine).

The game could have not got off to a better start from an FCA perspective. Mads Pedersen played a back-heeled pass to Iago who drifted into the penalty area and shot the ball with a curling right-footed effort into the far corner to give Augsburg the lead after just 51 seconds. The home side didn’t stop there however, and a last-ditch defensive action from Kevin Mbabu was required to stop Pedersen from having Augsburg’s next chance of the game (4’). 

Wolfsburg got their first chance of the game after the quarter-hour mark, with a Xavier Schlager effort flying high over the bar (16’). They then had another opportunity a few minutes later as Lukas Nmecha was on-on-one against Rafał Gikiewicz, but the FCA keeper came out on top on this occasion (24’). Overall, the first half became more and more even as it progressed. Shortly before the break, FCA got themselves forward and had a chance through Ricardo Pepi, whose shot from a tight angle was saved by Pavao Pervan (45’+2).

Niederlechner doubles FCA’s advantage – Pedersen adds a third

It was an eventful start to the second half, with VfL missing two chances through Max Kruse and Jonas Wind (48’) before Daniel Caligiuri then came close at the other end (57’). The FCA fans were ready to celebrate a second goal, but Maximilian Arnold cleared Reece Oxford’s header off the line to keep it at 1-0 (61’).

One minute later, however, the ball did find itself in the back of the Wolfsburg net once again. Oxford flicked on Arne Maier’s corner to the far post, where Florian Niederlechner was on hand to prod the ball home from close range (62’). Things then got even better for FCA. Some great link-up play in the middle of the park saw Niederlechner play it to Pedersen, who drove into the penalty area and let fly from a tight angle on the left-hand side of the box. His shot went in via the underside of the bar and the score was now 3-0 (69’).

With a clear lead already established, FCA began to slow the game down in the final knockings of the match, and VfL only had a couple of fleeting chances towards full-time, with Kruse (71’) and Wind (79’, 85’) unable to score a consolation goal.

And so, FC Augsburg celebrated a convincing 3-0 home victory. Their next game sees them face off against 1. FSV Mainz 05, a fixture which was previously postponed, on Wednesday, 6th April. 

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