Augsburg go top of Bundesliga after stunning second-half rout of Frankfurt
Augsburg moved to the top of the Bundesliga after producing a devastating second-half comeback to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1.
Frankfurt had taken a lead and controlled much of the first half but Augsburg scored twice within the opening 2 minutes after the restart before adding 2 more to seal an emphatic win.
It is the time in 6 seasons that Augsburg have won both of their opening Bundesliga matches and it represents their best start to a campaign since winning promotion in 2011.
Match highlight
Frankfurt started brightly. Jonathan Burkardt, season’s top scorer had watched strike partner Younes Ebnoutalib claim a remarkable hat-trick the previous weekend. This time the roles were reversed.
Ebnoutalib found space down the left. Delivered a cross to the far post, where Burkardt rose above Hennes Behrens and headed into the near corner to give Frankfurt the lead.
Can Uzun, Raphael Onyedika and Ebnoutalib all forced saves from Finn Dahmen with the Augsburg goalkeeper producing an important one-on-one stop to deny Ebnoutalib.
Augsburg offered little in attack for periods but Fabian Rieder almost gave them a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when his free-kick bounced narrowly past the right post.
26 seconds after the restart Marius Wolf floated a cross into the box. Arijon Ibrahimovic rose to meet it. His header took a deflection off Elias Baum before finding the bottom-left corner.
From the restart Ibrahimovic burst forward and fired a shot that Noah Atubolu could only spill. Robin Fellhauer reacted first to tap in the rebound and put Augsburg 2-1 up.
The turnaround stunned Frankfurt and Augsburg grew stronger as the match continued.
After the hour mark Alexis Claude-Maurice produced the third goal. After a spell of possession he turned past Onyedika drove forward and curled a superb effort from the edge of the area into the corner.
Adi Hutter made changes in an attempt to rescue the match but none could stop Augsburg’s momentum.
With minutes left Rieder finally got his goal. The midfielder bent a free-kick over the wall and into the top-right corner making up for his near miss before half-time and completing a remarkable 4-1 win.
Augsburg’s result ends Frankfurt’s 7-match unbeaten home run, in this fixture. Frankfurt will also be concerned by the trend: they have won only 6 of their last 30 competitive matches.
