FCA draw 1-1 with Union after late equaliser

In the second match of a busy week, FC Augsburg suffered the blow of conceding a last-gasp equaliser against 1. FC Union Berlin. On Thursday evening, it looked as if Alexis Claude-Maurice would be the matchwinner after he scored a spectacular opener, but the visitors hit back in injury time despite being down to ten men.

Head coach Manuel Baum made four changes to his starting line-up as he brought in Kristijan Jakić, Elvis Rexhbecaj, January arrival Michael Gregoritsch, and Dimitris Giannoulis, who made his return from suspension. Another new loan signing, Yannik Keitel, was named on the bench. However, Rodrigo Ribeiro, who only joined on Thursday, was not yet part of the squad.

It was a frantic start to the game as both teams looked to attack early on, and it was clear from the outset that this would be a physical affair. After around the ten-minute mark, though, the match began to settle and FCA now looked to take control of proceedings. Alexis Claude-Maurice had the first opportunity when he tried to get on the end of Anton Kade’s cross into the six-yard box, but just could not get a touch on the ball (13’). The visitors also had their first chance shortly afterwards. Andras Schäfer headed Oliver Burke’s dangerous cross into the ground and over the bar (19’).

Claude-Maurice with a stunner

The action then started to mostly play out in midfield, as the two sides contested a hard-fought encounter, albeit one with few goalscoring chances for long periods. In the sixth minute of first-half injury time, the fans were finally off their seats as Claude-Maurice put FCA ahead at the break. His curling effort from around 30 yards out flew in off the crossbar.

Both teams came out for the second half unchanged. FCA remained on top and tried to make things happen going forward. In the 58th minute, Claude-Maurice bent a free kick around the wall. However, his effort struck the post. Just two minutes later, Kade pulled the trigger in the box after playing a one-two with Robin Fellhauer, but he was denied by Union goalkeeper Frederik Rønnow.

The Fuggerstädter were now creating more and more opportunities. Noahkai Banks forced Rønnow into another save from around 13 yards out (77’), substitute Mert Kömür fired over after a quick counterattack, and Fellhauer also came close with a shot from a tight angle. Union Berlin were then reduced to ten men for the final few minutes. Derrick Köhn was shown a straight red card for a foul on Samuel Essende. Unfazed by this, the visitors equalised just a matter of seconds later. In injury time, Marin Ljubičić poked home in the six-yard box to level the scores at 1-1.

FC Augsburg are in Bundesliga action again at the WWK ARENA on Sunday evening. Manuel Baum’s side will take on SC Freiburg in their Matchday 18 clash (18th January, 17:30 CET).

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