FC Augsburg handed another player from the youth system their Bundesliga debut in the final stages of the 1-0 home win against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, with Aaron Zehnter coming on and helping FCA hold on to a narrow lead.

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“Before the sub the coach said to me on the way that I should just play and not think about it too much. That’s what I did and it was enormously fun!” said Zehnter talking about his first minutes of Bundesliga action.

Before lunch, the youngster was still training with the U19s. During training it was finally shared with him that he should makes his way to the first team. After then training with the first team for the game at the WWK ARENA during the day, the 18-year-olds time finally came in the 90th minute, and he made his way onto the pitch to loud cheers from the FCA fans. He replaced Mads Pedersen at left-back for the five minutes of additional time. In this role he had to deal with Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby, one of the quickest players in the Bundesliga. 

Maaßen’s brave decision

Despite his nerves, Zehnter put in a top performance in his first game. “I am very grateful to the coach that he still brought me on in the final stages of the game. I am pleased that he had the confidence in me to give me my Bundesliga debut in the final minutes of such a close game,” said Zehnter of the head coach’s decision.

“It was a successful day all round, not just with the win, but also that we were able to give a first Bundesliga appearance to a player from our own youth system,” said Enrico Maaßen. “He did really well.”

Zehnter is now the eleventh player from the FCA youth system to make a Bundesliga debut at the club. Before him, Eriko Thommy, Tim Rieder, Julian Günther-Schmidt, Raphael Framberger, Kevin Danso, Marco Richter, Simon Asta, Jozo Stanic, Tim Civeja and Lukas Petkov had also achieved the feat.