FCA narrowly beaten in Stuttgart after courageous performance

FC Augsburg went home empty-handed despite a courageous performance away at VfB Stuttgart. The Fuggerstädter were beaten 3-2 in a hard-fought encounter at the MHP Arena on Sunday evening. After FCA had twice gone ahead, VfB netted the winning goal late on.

Sandro Wagner made one change to his side for their meeting with the DFB-Pokal holders, as Mert Kömür came in for Anton Kade. Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, meanwhile, returned to the squad for the first time since his injury. Finn Dahmen led FCA out as captain.

Wagner’s team made a confident and adventurous start. In the early stages, Augsburg prevented the hosts from launching attacks and looked to get forward with purpose themselves. After just nine minutes, FCA got their reward for a courageous start. Anton Kade and Alexis Claude-Maurice were both denied by VfB goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, before Fabian Rieder found the net at the third attempt. This early deficit appeared to rattle Stuttgart, but the hosts still found a fortunate equaliser through Mittelstädt after a controversial penalty was awarded for a hand on Zagadou (19’).

The Fuggerstädter were not deterred by this. Only a few minutes later, Han-Noah Massengo won the ball on the edge of the box and calmly slotted home to make it 2-1 to the visitors (26’). Augsburg were in control until Stuttgart hit back again just before the break. Finn Dahmen was unable to stop Undav’s header from just about crossing the goalline (39’). The score was 2-2 going into half time.

A hard-fought battle in the second period

It remained a closely fought, high-intensity encounter after the break. Neither team wanted to give anything away, and the match was characterised by individual battles all over the pitch. FCA’s best chance fell to substitute Samuel Essende, who fired over after being found free in the box by Kade (77’). At the other end, VfB took their big opportunity. Deniz Undav’s deflected effort flew into the Augsburg net and left Dahmen powerless (82’).

The Fuggerstädter threw everything forwards in the final few minutes. Wagner sent on fresh legs in Kömür, Saad and Wolf, but they couldn’t quite find the equaliser. The final whistle blew after seven minutes of injury time. This was a tough defeat to take after a strong performance overall.

The international break is next after this hard-fought match. FCA’s next game sees Hamburger SV visit the WWK ARENA on Saturday, 22nd November (15:30 CET).

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