Late defeat against Mainz
Report: Augsburg 1-2 Mainz
First Team
20.08.2022, 17:42
FC Augsburg suffered their second home defeat of the season after a late 2-1 loss against 1. FSV Mainz 05. The visitors scored the winning goal in added time.
FCA head coach Enrico Maaßen made just one change to the side that won 2-1 away against Bayer Leverkusen last week. Maximilian Bauer replaced Robert Gumny, who missed out through illness. In new signing Julian Baumgartlinger, Ruben Vargas, who has recently recovered from illness, and youth product Lukas Petkov, three players made the matchday squad for the first time this season.
It took just three minutes for FCA captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw to be handed a yellow card, going into the book for a foul on Karim Onisiwo. The game was an intense one after that with both teams getting stuck in. The first real chance came from Arne Maier, who saw his long-range free kick parried by goalkeeper Robin Zentner (19’).
Despite having the edge of possession, Maaßen’s team fell behind in the 31st minute. Onisiwo received a ball from Angelo Fulgini before staying calm to slot home past Rafał Gikiewicz. The goal was reviewed for a potential handball from Onisiwo but was allowed to stand.
FCA responded well and found the equaliser just four minutes later. Iago found Felix Uduokhai on the left who delivered a low cross into the area. Ermedin Demirović met the ball and turned it into the back of the net for what was his first goal in an FCA shirt. There was another VAR review on the stroke of halftime for a potential foul on Uduokahi, but it came to nothing (45+1’).
Gikiewicz saves penalty, Lee heads in winner
The second half saw more end-to-end action and the visitors were awarded a controversial penalty in the 60th minute. Onisiwo found Jonathan Burkardt on the counterattack and the forward fell to the ground after some slight contact from Carlos Gruezo. Aarón Martín stepped up for the resulting penalty kick but Gikiewicz guessed the right way to keep the scores level (62’). The game remained open and Mainz had a pair of chances through Onisiwio (64’, 70’).
After the introductions of Vargas, Pepi and Hahn, new signing Baumgartlinger was able to make his debut for FCA, but had to make do with defeat at the hands of his former club. A short corner saw the ball delivered into the area before being headed home by substitute Jae-Sung Lee in the third minute of added time. In the final moments, Gikiewicz joined the attack for one final corner kick but FCA couldn’t level the game once more and were made to suffer their second home defeat of the season.
Enrico Maaßen’s side will be in action next on Saturday 27th August when they take on TSG Hoffenheim away from home. Kick-off is at 15:30 CEST.
