Augsburg put the own goal behind them and showed team spirit to secure a point as they drew 1-1 away to Eintracht Frankfurt on matchday 30 of the Bundesliga.

Head coach Enrico Maaßen could rely on captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw again, who returned to the team after serving his yellow card suspension. Renato Veiga was also given a start at left-back in place of the injured Iago, Daniel Caligiuri was absent due to a stomach bug.

It took precisely 31 seconds in the reverse fixture for the Fuggerstädter to take the lead through Mergim Berisha. This time, however, FCA’s goalscorer was absent due to injury, as was Frankfurt’s top scorer Randal Kolo Muani. The opening period was quite even, even though the home side were waiting ready to counter. The first scoring chance came for Augsburg, as Arne Maier’s left-footed shot from 15 yards landed in the arms of Kevin Trapp (10’).

In the following period, Frankfurt took more control of the game and quickly converted this superior phase into a goal. Aurélio Buta used the space on the right wing and drove into the penalty area, pulling the ball back, which Elvis Rexhbecaj deflected into his own net (25’). After the own goal, Maaßen’s players had to deal with more danger, as Daichi Kamada found himself in a dangerous position in front of Augsburg’s goal on two occasions (27’, 33’). FCA were dangerous shortly before the break, when Dion Beljo took the ball from Ermedin Demirović and took a shot on goal, but his attempt was deflected for a corner (45’).

Julian Baumgartlinger and Robert Gumny came out for the second half, with Arne Engels and the yellow-carded Veiga making way. After Demirović first failed to beat Trapp on the right-hand side (48’), the Bosnian scored the all-important equaliser in the 58th minute, in a very attractive manner. Demirović headed a long cross from Ruben Vargas into the bottom-right corner on the turn to score his eighth goal of the season.

Dorsch makes his comeback

During a period in which Augsburg were pressing hard and Mads Pedersen sent a long-range shot over the goal (65’), Maaßen had to react again. Baumgartlinger, who was substituted on at the break, injured his left knee and was replaced by Niklas Dorsch, who celebrated his return after nose surgery (71’). The game was then completely open and both teams increased the tempo, but the match ended in a well-earned 1-1 draw after four minutes of injury time.

With 31 points, FCA remain in 13th place. On Saturday 6th May (15:30 CEST), Maaßen’s team will host 1. FC Union Berlin at the sold-out WWK ARENA.

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