FC Augsburg had to make do with a draw from the Matchday 8 finale. After taking the lead against Arminia Bielefeld, the visitors found an equalizer and the game ended 1-1.  

Markus Weinzierl made two changes to the side that started the 2-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund before the international break: André Hahn and Ruben Vargas started in place of Carlos Gruezo, who only returned from international duty on Saturday night, and Sergio Córdova, who started on the bench.  

FCA were right in the game from the outset. Tobias Strobl had the first big chance of the game from a corner and was denied by Stefan Ortega (8’). The Fuggerstädters had a lot more of the game and continued to create chances, through Vargas for instance, whose shot in the 17th minute zipped just wide of the goal, before Ortega was forced into another save, this time to deny Daniel Caligiuri, just one minute later. After the resulting corner, however, the Bielefeld shot stopper was picking the ball out of his net, after Reece Oxford nodded in a free header – a first Bundesliga goal for the Englishman (19’).  

The lead only increased FCA’s confidence, as the boys pushed on to try and build on the lead, let down by their lack of accuracy in the final ball. Without creating any more dangerous chances, Augsburg took a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to a dominant defensive display, with Rafal Gikiewicz looking back on a fairly uneventful first half for him.  

Laursen equalises out of the blue 

Bielefeld came out for the second half with a new lease of energy and sent a free-kick just over the bar in the 50th minute. An early warning sign, but FCA got the game back under control and kept Arminia at bay. With Augsburg focused on defending since the restart, the game was played predominantly in the midfield.  

Only 25 minutes into the half did FCA have their first sight at a second goal – Arne Maier was denied by Ortega. Then at the other end, almost out of nothing, the ball was suddenly in the back of Gikieiwicz’s goal. After FCA failed to clear properly, Jacob Laursen arrived at the edge of the box and pulled off a superb volley to level the scores at 1-1 (77’). The Fuggerstädters almost provided the perfect response, with only the offside flag denying Morávek a potentially winning goal (78’).  

In the closing stages, FCA began hunting for a winner. After Caligiuri’s free-kick was saved in the 85th minute, another goal was disallowed with stoppage time looming – Sarenren Bazee’s first-time finish was ruled out due to an offside position in the build-up. At the other end, Gikiewicz made sure the game ended 1-1 after Fabian Klos almost had the final say.   

FCA will not have much time to rest: On Friday, 22nd October at 20:30 CEST, they will open Matchday 9 in Mainz.  

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