FCA secure 1-1 draw against Freiburg

FC Augsburg secured an important point at home to SC Freiburg. The away side took the lead in the first half after Florian Niederlechner converted from the spot but Konstantinos Stafylidis hit back nine minutes later with a header. Neither side could find a winner in the second half and it stayed 1-1. FCA head coach Manuel Baum made five changes to the team that started in the 3-0 defeat at Schalke. Paul Verhaegh and Jonathan Schmid were not included in the squad, while Gojko Kacar, Halil Altintop and Raul Bobadilla took up their places on the bench. Georg Teigl, Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, Kevin Danso, Jan Moravek and Dong-Won Ji all came in to replace them. Volunteers who helped during the recent evacuation were invited to the game as a thank you for their help to the city. It provided a nice touch to start the afternoon. The hosts were bold going forward right from the outset but clear-cut chances were scarce for either side. Jeffrey Gouweleeuw almost scored a stunner but his belter from 18 metres out clattered off the Freiburg crossbar. Dong-Won Ji came close not long afterwards but his effort could only find the side-netting. Freiburg's Mike Frantz was played through in a one-on-one just before the half hour mark and Marwin Hitz was straight out to close him down. However FCA's number one caught the SCF midfielder and gave away a penalty. Florian Niederlechner stepped up and coolly converted into the right corner, giving the away side the lead. Augsburg nearly found the equaliser straight away but Martin Hinteregger's shot from eight metres out crashed into the side-netting. The match began to pick up pace, as did the physicality, with both teams putting in some hard challenges. However Konstantinos Stafylidis managed to get his head to a Georg Teigl cross shortly before half-time and steered in to earn a deserved equaliser for Augsburg. The start of the second half was similar to the first.Fouls and misplaced passes were frequent in a game that lacked any real quality. The fans had to wait until the 61st minute of the second half for a goalscoring opportunity. Freiburg's Maximilian Philipp had a go from distance as he tried to find the corner but Hitz comfortably got there to keep it out. Raul Bobadilla found Moritz Leitner late on with a superb ball in but the January signing could not find the target as his header sailed wide. The score remained unchanged and both teams leave with a point.