A largely hard-fought and heated contest in Augsburg, in which the two goalkeepers were the standout performers, ended in a share of the points. Yannick Gerhardt put the Wolves in front in the 27th minute, Robert Gumny scoring the equaliser for FCA after 55 minutes.
VfL host Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Volkswagen Arena on Matchday 10 next Saturday, 15 October, at 15:30 CEST.
Team news
Niko Kovac was forced into one change from last Saturday’s important 3-2 win against VfB Stuttgart. Felix Nmecha, making his first start of the season, took the place of Mattias Svanberg, who missed out through illness.
Goals
0-1 Gerhardt (27’): VfL‘s first real attacking action of the match gives them the lead. Brilliantly started by Jakub Kaminski, the Green-and-Whites outnumber the hosts and Ridle Baku plays a perfectly timed pass into Gerhardt, who makes it 1-0.
1-1 Gumny (55’): The Wolves fail to clear the danger from a corner and the ball comes to Gumny, who smashes it in off the underside of the bar from six metres.
Reaction
Niko Kovac: “That was a very intense match today and certainly not one that stood out in terms of technique. Tactically, we already knew that Augsburg would look to bypass the midfield as quickly as possible and try to win the second ball. We obviously needed to guard against that, which we did. Because of this, both teams ended up committing a lot of fouls and picking up yellow cards here and there. At the end of the day, the result is by no means a bad one and I’m happy with how we went about things.”
Enrico Maaßen: “We got off to a really good start, playing really aggressively and making it awkward for our opponents, putting them under a lot of stress, which was the way we’d planned it. Then the first real decent chance for Wolfsburg saw us fall behind. What was really positive is how we came back after they took the lead. We’re pleased with a point – it’s a fair result.”
Line-up and stats
FC Augsburg: Koubek – Gumny, M. Bauer, Gouweleeuw, Iago – Gruezo, Rexhbecaj, Vargas (77‘ Pedersen), Demirovic – Niederlechner, F. Jensen (86‘ Caligiuri)
Subs: Klein (GK), Framberger, Winther, Baumgartlinger, Caligiuri, Maier, Petkov
VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Baku, Lacroix, van de Ven, Otavio – Arnold, F. Nmecha, Gerhardt, Wimmer (75’ Paredes), Kaminski (68‘ Guilavogui) – Marmoush (75‘ L. Nmecha)
Subs: Pervan (GK), Fischer, Bornauw, Ambros, Brekalo, Waldschmidt
Goals: 0-1 Gerhardt (27‘), 1-1 Gumny (55‘)
Yellow cards: M. Bauer, Gouweleeuw, Gruezo, Iago / Gerhardt, Otavio, Guilavogui
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)
Attendance: 26,220 at WWK-Arena
