Home rout of Augsburg sends Heidenheim to the top of the Bundesliga table
A 4-0 demolition of Augsburg at home on Sunday afternoon leaves the tiny Albogen club as the German top division's "Spitzenreiter". Bayern will have to beat Freiburg by a large margin if they are to be knocked off their perch.
| Photo: 1. FC Heidenheim |
The "Albogen Fairy Tale" continues after 1. FC Heidenheim won their fifth straight competitive match on-the-spin on Sunday afternoon. Frank Schmidt's East Albian sensations stormed out of the gate in the 2024/25 cycle, keeping two clean sheets and scoring three or more goals on three of their five Bundesliga, Pokal, and UECL fixtures. A 4-0 home win over regional rivals Augsburg ensures that Schmidt's team heads into the international break atop the Bundesliga table.
Trainer Schmidt again rotated heavily from the XI that he rolled out in Thursday's UECL victory. Omar Haktab Traoré, Benedikt Gimber, Jonas Föhrenbach, Jan Schöppner, Adrian Beck, Paul Wanner, and Leo Scienza replaced Marnon Busch, Tim Siersleben, Norman Theuerkauf, Sirlord Conteh, Mikkel Kaufmann, Denis Thomalla, and Luca Kerber. Niklas Dorsch was not yet in the match-day squad after being sold by Augsburg back to his old club on deadline day.
FCA trainer Thorup made just one change to the XI that drew Bremen last week. Arne Engels' sale to Celtic Glasgow left a vacant place in the lineup. While maintaining his 4-4-2 diamond formation, Thorup replaced Engels with Finnish international Fredrik Jensen on a straight like-for-like swap. None of Augsburg's three deadline day additions were ready for the match-day squad.
German-Austrian sensation Paul Wanner was gifted a chance to score in his fourth consecutive match on-the-trot early when Keven Schlotterbeck was adjudged to have handled a ball in the box. Wanner stepped forward to cooly convert from the spot in the 9th, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead. The two sides then traded decent chances in what was an up-tempo and entertaining affair.
The Fuggerstädter were able to get some sniffs at goal via Jensen and Arnie Maier. Schlotterbeck attempted to redeem himself, unfortunately only hitting the post with his header off a corner in the 27th. It was the second strike of the aluminum for the guests after Maier struck the crossbar in the 2nd. Thorup's side regrettably found all their hard work undone when Heidenheim doubled the advantage at the half-hour-mark.
New summer addition Leo Scienza - who was playing for Ulm in the German third division last season - recorded his first ever Bundesliga goal in the 30th. The Brazilian had a simple finish after some hard work up the left flank from Föhrenbach and a fine header across the face of goal from Marvin Pieringer. It was Pieringer (in the 42nd) who came close to scoring again before the half was out.
Thorup reacted to the halftime deficit by bringing on Marius Wolf and Ruben Vargas for Mads Pedersen and Jensen. The first 18 minutes after the restart remained largely uneventful. Vargas did manage to rip in a solid distance effort in the 63rd. Shortly after that, there were appeals for another handball penalty. In the end, however, Augsburg weren't awarded their own spot kick following a Schöppner handle.
Matters then felt apart for the visiting Bavarian Swabians. Wanner set up Beck's 3-0 with a sumptuously threaded ball in the 69th. With blistering pace, FCH sub Sirlord Conteh set up his fellow substitute Maximilian Breunig four minutes later. Breunig's recorded his first-ever Bundesliga goal on the 74th-minute 4-0. Conteh continued to impress down the stretch, very nearly scoring a goal of his own before the full-time whistle.