FC Augsburg’s unbeaten run of four games came to an end on matchday 10 of the Bundesliga season. Despite taking the lead in Köln, FCA were left empty handed and headed home with a 3-2 defeat.
After the 1-1 draw against VfL Wolfsburg, Frederik Winther and Raphael Framberger replaced suspended pair Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and Maximilian Bauer in the starting XI. Mergim Berisha returned from suspension to replace Fredrik Jensen, who had tested positive for coronavirus. Arne Maier missed out with a muscle problem, and with Enrico Maaßen without a total of eleven first-team players, U23s Daniel Katić and Josué Mbila were named in the matchday squad.

After an even start to the game, the ball was in the net early on and FCA had the lead in the 14th minute. Winther’s long ball found Florian Niederlechner, who controlled well before firing into the far corner from a narrow angle. Just five minutes later, the lead was almost doubled. Berisha beat goalkeeper Marwin Schwäbe with a header but the goal was ruled out due to an offside call.

Köln responded positively and every FCA player was called into defensive action to protect the lead; forward Ruben Vargas was on hand to save the day twice in his own area (26’, 34’). During injury time of the first half, Ermedin Demirovic couldn’t make proper contact on an Iago ball and at the other end, Tomáš Koubek saved Ondrej Duda’s long-range strike (45’+4).

Caligiuri comes off the bench to score

Daniel Caligiuri will have hoped to have an instant impact upon replacing the booked Ruben Vargas at half time, but it was Köln who had the better start to the second half. Linton Maina’s cross found Steffen Tigges, who leveled the scores in the 47th minute. Berisha had a good chance to restore the lead with a free kick (57’), before Iago’s shot was blocked by Benno Schmitz (59’). However, it was the visitors who got the next goal and turned the game around when Denis Huseinbasic found the back of the net just after the hour mark (61’).

Maaßen’s side responded well and the equaliser came from substitute Caliguri, who finished left-footed after some good work from Niederlechner. Elvis Rexhbecaj, captaining the side in the absence of Gouweleeuw, saw a long shot go just over the bar (79’) as Augsburg pushed to regain the lead. However, the points were to stay in Köln. Substitute Mark Uth found space in the area and crossed to Tigges, who scored his second of the game and gave his side the win.

Next up for FC Augsburg is the DFB-Pokal second-round tie against FC Bayern Munich on Wednesday 19th October (20:30 CEST), before the return to Bundesliga action on Saturday 22nd October with a game against RB Leipzig at 15:30 CEST.
 

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