Dortmund seals vital victory over Augsburg
Goals from Raphael Guerreiro and Julian Brandt helped Borussia Dortmund bounce back from defeat last week in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 home win against Augsburg on Saturday.
Despite being without Erling Haaland, Dortmund found a way to record a second straight victory without its star forward, backing up Wednesday's (AEST) UEFA Champions League defeat of Sporting.
Daniel Caligiuri – a Dortmund nemesis in his Schalke days – made Gregor Kobel work early on, but it was Dortmund that landed the first blow from the spot.
Jeffrey Gouweleeuw was deemed to have brought down Donyell Malen in the penalty box, and Guerreiro coolly dispatched the ensuing penalty for 1-0.
Despite few chances thereafter, Augsburg found a way to level with 10 minutes of the first half remaining. Arne Maier’s shot from range bounced back off the bar, and Zeqiri was in the right place at the right time to bury the follow-up to make it 1-1.
Dortmund restored its advantage soon after the restart, though. Marco Reus collected a pass from the rampaging Marius Wolf and found Brandt, who touched the ball on to his left foot before firing a perfect finish inside Rafal Gikiewicz’s near post from the edge of the box.
Wolf tested the Augsburg stopper from range as Dortmund turned the screw, with Reus thrashing the rebound on to the crossbar and inches away from getting his head to Malen’s ensuing cross-shot.
The frame of the goal also denied Thorgan Hazard when he grazed the post, but Augsburg couldn't prevent a fifth Dortmund win of the 2021-2022 Bundesliga season, keeping it in second place on the table, one point off the leader, Bayern Munich, which plays Eintracht Frankfurt on Monday (AEDT).
