On Saturday afternoon, Augsburg played out a gripping 2-2 home draw against Bayern Munich. Marco Richter gave FCA the lead within the first minute of the game, and 90 minutes later Alfred Finnbogason equalised in added time to make the score 2-2.  

FCA head coach Martin Schmidt shuffled the pack in regards to team selection for the match against the champions. Marco Richter was back in the starting lineup after coming back from injury, and Jeffrey Gouweleeuw was on the bench for the first time this season. However, FCA had to leave out captain Daniel Baier and midfielder Michael Gregoritsch, as both players were out with injuries.

After their 5-1 humbling at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Augsburg wanted to bounce back in front of a home crowd, and could not have started better than they did against Bayern. After just 23 seconds, Rani Khedira headed the ball into the path of Marco Richter, and the 21-year-old steered the ball past the flailing Manuel Neuer.

FCA were tightly organised in their defence and let Bayern dictate the play for the most part, but the next chance in the game came Augsburg’s way again. Richter shot wide after a well-executed counter-attack after 9 minutes, but only after Serge Gnabry fired wide of Tomas Koubek’s net. The Czech was powerless to prevent the next chance however, as Robert Lewandowski powered a header in past the Augsburg keeper following a cross by Gnabry (14’). As expected, Bayern dominated the game and had much more possession, but Augsburg remained focused, tight at the back, and even made a few attacking forays, each one forcing mistakes from the Bayern defence.  After a hectic few minutes at the end of the first half, Manuel Neuer had to deny Richter before the referee blew for half time.

Both sides came back out having made no changes, but this time Bayern had the better start. After Augsburg lost the ball on the attack, Gnabry pushed into the Augsburg half and curled in Bayern’s second into the bottom left corner (49’). Not long later, Philippe Coutinho had the opportunity to increase Bayern’s advantage, but he was denied after a spectacular Koubek save (52’).

Augsburg fight until the end – Finnbogason levels late on

Having regained the lead , Bayern played with more determination going forward, but were still vulnerable on the counter-attack. Ruben Vargas had the chance to equalise, but his shot was too weak to trouble Manuel Neuer (55’). At the other end of the pitch, Koubek made smart saves against Gnabry (61’) and Coman (79’) to keep FCA in the game.

Schmidt brought on two more attacking players in Fredrik Jensen and Alfred Finnbogason at around the hour mark to freshen up the Augsburg attack. The two Northern Europeans didn’t have too many chances to work together because of the dour performance of the Bayern defensive line. In the final phase, FCA threw everything forward. At first it didn’t look like it would be Augsburg’s day as Manuel Neuer turned Philipp Max’s long shot around the post (88.) but Finnbogason struck in added time. Subsitute Sergio Cordova outmuscled the Bayern defender and sent a vicious low cross into the area towards Finnbogason, who tapped it past Neuer to equalise and send the home fans into raptures.

Next Sunday, 27^th October (15.30 CEST) FC Augsburg travel to VfL Wolfsburg.

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