FCA lose 4-3 at Elversberg despite late rally

FC Augsburg suffered a frustrating 4-3 defeat away to newly promoted SV Elversberg on matchday 6. In a chaotic seven-goal encounter in Saarland, two converted penalties and a late push ultimately weren't enough to rescue a point.

Head coach Manuel Baum made just one change to his starting XI following the 2-2 draw against FC Bayern, with Marius Wolf returning from illness to replace Youngwoo Seol. Noahkai Banks, Alexis Claude-Maurice and Steve Mounié remained unavailable, while Sima Suso was also absent from the squad.

After FCA had made a flying start against Bayern the previous weekend thanks to Robin Fellhauer's record-breaking goal, this time it was Augsburg who found themselves on the receiving end of an early setback. The visitors initially cleared an Elversberg cross into the box, but referee Florian Exner awarded a penalty for handball against Chrislain Matsima following a VAR review in the fourth minute. Finn Dahmen did brilliantly to keep out the spot-kick with his legs, only for former Augsburg player Lukas Petkov to turn home the rebound and make it 1-0.

Things went from bad to worse just three minutes later. Elversberg broke quickly following an FCA corner, with Maurice Krattenmacher leading the counter-attack down the right before squaring for another former Augsburg player, Lasse Günther, who curled a superb finish into the right-hand corner to double the hosts’ lead.

Augsburg began to threaten at the other end, but neither Matsima (15’) nor Arijon Ibrahimović (22’) could find the net. Baum’s side continued to push for a way back into the game, only to concede a third in the 28th minute. Felix Keidel swung in a corner from the left and Maximilian Rohr met it with a header in the centre of the box, directing the ball inside the right post.

Rieder pulls one back from the spot

FCA had a golden opportunity to reduce the deficit in the sixth minute of first-half stoppage time. Marius Wolf turned and shot following a corner, but his deflected effort flew narrowly over the bar. However, VAR intervened to check a possible handball by Rohr in the build-up, and Exner pointed to the spot for the second time. Captain Fabian Rieder stepped up and confidently dispatched his penalty to make it 3-1 at the break.

Manuel Baum made three changes at half-time, including the introduction of Jeffrey Gouweleeuw. It was a landmark appearance for the defender, who drew level with Daniel Baier on 274 Bundesliga appearances for FC Augsburg, making them the club's joint record appearance holders in the top flight.

Much of the early second-half action took place in the middle of the park. Augsburg gradually began to enjoy more possession and get forward more frequently, although clear-cut chances remained few and far between. FCA began to apply more pressure in the closing stages and reduced the deficit in the 75th minute. Lukas Pinckert caught Hennes Behrens rather than the ball with an attempted clearance, giving Augsburg another penalty. Michael Gregoritsch stepped up and calmly slotted his spot-kick low to the left to make it 3-2.

Elversberg strike again before Kömür makes an instant impact

Elversberg thought they had restored their two-goal advantage almost immediately. Günther played in substitute Adam, who scored with his first touch, but a VAR review ruled the goal out for a marginal offside. Augsburg then thought they had another penalty in the 86th minute when Luca Sirch handled a cross intended for Gregoritsch. Exner went to the monitor to review the incident, however, and overturned his initial decision.

Instead, Elversberg struck at the other end shortly afterwards to make it 4-2. Petkov got the better of Behrens on the right side of the penalty area and squared for Frederik Schmahl, who finished first time. Augsburg responded immediately, though, as Behrens picked out substitute Mert Kömür, who took aim and placed a precise finish into the bottom corner to make it 4-3.

There was still time for another penalty, this time for Elversberg, after Noel Futkeu went down under a challenge from Calvin Brackelmann. Futkeu took the spot-kick himself but struck the crossbar. The final whistle followed shortly afterwards, as Augsburg’s late push fell just short in a 4-3 defeat.

FC Augsburg return to the WWK ARENA next weekend, when they host 1. FC Union Berlin on Saturday, 24th October (15:30 CEST).

Unsere FCA-APP

Jetzt herunterladen!