FCA fall to 5-1 loss in Dortmund
Heavy defeat for Thorup’s side
FC Augsburg suffered a heavy defeat away at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday afternoon as they lost 5-1 against the Champions League contenders.
FCA head coach Jess Thorup made three changes to his starting eleven from the 3-0 defeat against Werder Bremen. Tim Breithaupt and Maximilian Bauer came into the side, whilst Tomáš Koubek started the game in goal – the 31-year-old Czech replaced Finn Dahmen, who picked up an ankle ligament injury in training and will be out for the rest of the season.
Meanwhile, BVB, who won 1-0 against PSG in the Champions League during the week, fielded an almost fully rotated side, with Edin Terzic’s attention already on the second leg in Paris. Dortmund made ten changes to their starting eleven, including Marco Reus, who has announced that he will be leaving the club in the summer. The hosts got off to an ideal start despite their heavily-rotated starting line-up: An attempted clearance from Felix Uduokhai was deflected by Mads Pedersen and landed at Youssoufa Moukoko’s feet, with the young striker making it 1-0 from close range (5’).
The early setback was later followed by a second for the hosts, as Donyell Malen doubled their lead in the 21st minute. Moukoko then added a third after half an hour (31′), adding to FCA’s troubles. The visitors were able to get one back through a long-range effort from Ruben Vargas (32′), but BVB quickly restored their old advantage after a chipped shot from Reus (35′).
Missed chances for FCA, Nmecha adds a fifth
Thorup sent out an unchanged side for the second 45 minutes, in which his team were able to get off to a better start than the opening half Phillip Tietz send a header over the bar (50’), before Arne Maier was unlucky to have a shot blocked at the last minute (58’). Captain Ermedin Demirović was denied by a strong save from Gregor Kobel, as the goalkeeper was forced to push his effort over the bar (61’). Despite a strong period of pressure from the visitors, Dortmund were then able to net their fifth goal of the afternoon through Felix Nmecha (64’).
Both sides then made changes, with FCA academy product Mert Kömür also making an appearance off the bench. Despite recording several chances, FCA ultimately fell to a heavy 5-1 defeat in Dortmund. Next up, Thorup’s side prepare to host VfB Stuttgart on Friday evening (10th May, 20:30 CEST).
