FC Augsburg wins a wild, entertaining game against Werder Bremen – and increases the gap to the relegation places.
Stefan Reuter could hardly be stopped. First the manager of FC Augsburg hugged coach Enrico Maassen, then he rushed onto the field to congratulate the players. Hugs, pats on the back – the 1990 world champion had every reason to be relieved. The entertaining and in the end laboriously defended 2-1 (1-0) against Werder Bremen gives the Augsburgers a nice buffer in the relegation battle.
“It was a hard-fought game, it was a wild game at times, so we’re all the happier that we kept the three points here,” said Reuter after the game on Sky. After the fourth home win in a row, the Augsburgers are now eight points ahead of the relegation place and the first relegation place. “An important victory,” said Reuter – especially since it’s going to Munich on Saturday: “We can’t hope that Bayern will take it easy.”
New signing Dion Beljo (5th) and Arne Maier (46th) secured their team’s eighth win of the season. Despite numerous chances and great superiority in the second half, Bremen only managed to equalize through Jens Stage (16th). “We clearly beat ourselves today,” complained Marco Friedl. “In the crucial moments we weren’t vigilant enough at the back,” added Niklas Stark.
Werder missed the restart
In fact, both teams were extremely vulnerable on the defensive. The first half in the sold-out Augsburg Arena in particular therefore offered the very best entertainment. Before Augsburg took the lead, goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz had already made a great save from Niclas Füllkrug’s shot (3′). Beljo, who came from the Croatian club NK Osijek in the winter, quickly defeated Friedl after excellent preliminary work by Robert Gumny.
And it went on merrily. Gikiewicz made a great save after a hair-raising miss from Renato Veiga into the legs of Romano Schmid (10′), but looked bad just a few moments later when equalizing. Augsburg’s coach reacted to the problems: Maassen took Veiga von Feld (34th) on loan from Sporting Lisbon, which actually helped to create more stability. But Bremen made a mistake again, with serious consequences shortly after the break.
Friedl complained that he and his team-mates came out of the dressing room “completely asleep” and was ecstatic that Augsburg scored the winning goal from their “only chance in the second half”. Bremen then understandably pushed for an equalizer – without success, and through their own fault. “We played far too poorly in the second half,” Stark admitted.
FC Augsburg – Werder Bremen: The voices of the game
Enrico Maassen (FC Augsburg coach): “Today we’re a happy winner. We ran 120 kilometers but we didn’t play football that well. The fighting spirit was really good, but we have to improve. This performance won’t be enough in Munich to take anything with us.”
Ole Werner (Werder Bremen coach): “Overall, we didn’t do enough with our opportunities. In the first half we made one or two mistakes too many. We could have done a lot more, so it hurts especially. It’s a bitter defeat, but it won’t knock us down .”
FC Augsburg – Werder Bremen: The data for the game
