Augsburg drop more points from winning position after Freiburg draw

Augsburg failed to hold onto their lead for the second time in four days with their 2-2 draw against SC Freiburg. All four goals of the game were scored in the chaotic twenty-minute spell at the start of the second-half.

Freiburg’s captain Vincenzo Grifo had the game’s first chance when his shot from the edge of the box slightly missed the target in the third minute. We had to wait until the half-hour mark for the next notable action after a more than five-minute stoppage due to fireworks by the traveling fans.

Alexis Claude-Maurice ended his goal drought in the 1-1 draw with Union Berlin, and he had Augsburg’s first chance in this one. However, similar to Han-Noah Massengo’s cross a couple of minutes later, Noah Atubolu was attentive in Freiburg’s goal.

Augsburg’s last season top-scorer had another decent chance at the stroke of halftime as he was clearly boosted with his first goal of the season. Another player was celebrating a goal for the first time this season in a chaotic start to the second-half.

First, Kristijan Jakic suffered a mysterious injury while climbing the stairs on his way to the pitch. Manuel Baum had to make a quick change as Elvis Rexhbecaj came on in his place. The Kosovan international scored Augsburg’s second goal after Claude-Maurice put them in front in the 47th minute.

The French midfielder opened the scoring after Lukas Kübler deflected his close-range effort. Rexhbecaj doubled their lead immediately from Fabian Rieder’s delivery after a short corner-kick routine.

Ten minutes later, Freiburg pulled one back with a spectacular finish from Yuito Suzuki. Julian Schuster made triple substitutions after conceding two goals in the first five minutes. And, they responded with their only two goals in the space of a couple of minutes.

The Japanese was one of those coming in as a substitute, and he scored his third Bundesliga goal with a brilliant volley. Parity was restored in a bizarre incident as Igor Matanovic reacted quickly to score after Michael Gregoritsch clearly used his hand to block Johan Manzambi’s shot on the goalline.

Referee Martin Petersen allowed the goal to stand, while the former Freiburg striker was lucky to escape with a yellow card. Finn Dahmen made a great save from Patrick Osterhage’s scuffed effort to keep the score level as the visitors pushed to complete the turnaround.

Matanovic did find the net once again, but the ball crossed the line before Suzuki initially delivered a cutback from the right flank. At the other end, Claude-Maurice’s strike was blocked on the goal-line by the 20-year-old defender Bruno Ogbus. Freiburg regained their eighth spot, while the gap between Augsburg and the automatic relegation spot remains four points.

Freiburg’s next Bundesliga game will be against Köln after entertaining Maccabi Tel Aviv in their final home fixture in the league phase of the Europa League. Augsburg will face the invincibles Bayern Munich in the Bavarian derby on matchday 19.