In the duel against FSV Mainz 05, FC Augsburg took a big step in the fight to stay up. In the entertaining catch-up game of the 26th match day, the team of coach Markus Weinzierl won 2-1 (1-0). With their second consecutive victory in the Bundesliga, the Augsburgers increased their lead over relegation place 16 to a whopping six points. Mainz failed to sneak up on the international places.
“We have to pay the team a huge compliment, they held back,” said Augsburg’s sporting director Stefan Reuter on Sky: “It was the intense game that we expected. The fans also helped a lot, and in the end there was a happy victory. “
Augsburg took the lead early on, after a mistake by FSV goalkeeper Robin Zentner, Jeff Gouweleeuw converted a highly dubious penalty kick (11th) – which referee Matthias Jöllenbeck (Freiburg) later described as a “clear mistake”: “I saw it live, then I saw it at halftime, it was two worlds. Maybe I didn’t describe the perception on the pitch clearly enough. It’s on me, but I would have liked to be corrected,” he said View of video assistant Tobias Stieler.
In the hectic final phase, Anton Stach (79′) failed completely with a header at FCA goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz, who secured the victory for the hosts. Jeffrey Gouweleeuw gave Augsburg the lead in the eleventh minute with the aforementioned controversial penalty kick. An alleged goal by André Hahn (32nd), the only newcomer in Augsburg’s starting eleven, was disallowed because of a handball. The equalizer from Silvan Widmer (54th) in the second half was countered by Ruben Vargas (56th) just two minutes after being substituted on.
Weinzierl had described the Zoff as “yesterday’s news” the day before because of the postponement of the game. Club President Klaus Hofmann teased again before kick-off on Wednesday in the club magazine. The core of the dispute was the question of whether, after a corona outbreak in March, the Mainzers actually did not have a playable goalkeeper available. The health of the players always comes first, Hofmann explained. “However, sporting fairness should also be high on the list. And that would certainly have included communicating to the other club affected and to the public that all three goalkeepers were positive on the Corona match day. Then FCA would of course have agreed to postpone the game. But this one It should have been at least a minimum of transparency!”
On the other hand, the energetic start phase of the Augsburg team was quite obvious. And this brought the leadership! After a faux pas by Zentner, referee Matthias Jöllenbeck awarded a penalty. Captain Gouweleeuw sank cool. The Mainz held against it in the open game. The always dangerous Jonathan Burkardt (26th) escaped Reece Oxford, but only hit the side netting. Hahn only supposedly made it better on the other side. After a corner, the ball from Karim Onisiwo’s head fell into his hand – the video referee took the goal back.
Mainz now increased the pace. Widmer converted a pass into the interface of Jean-Paul Boetius’ defence. Vargas hit back almost immediately, hammering in an extension Hahn header. In the 64th minute, the Swiss could almost have increased against undeterred guests. In the last few minutes, the Augsburgers successfully defended themselves against the Mainz final offensive.