Pair of goals, pair of red cards in 10v10 draw between Augsburg and Union

On a nine-degree Saturday afternoon in southern Bavaria, FC Augsburg (2-2-2, 10th) played host to 1. FC Union Berlin (1-2-3, 17th) in the seventh matchweek of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season at WWK Arena.

Augsburg looked to pick up their first point in five matches, after two draws against Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2-2) and FC Bayern München (2-2) plus two losses against SV Werder Bremen (2-3) and SV Elversberg 07 (3-4). Union, on the other hand, picked up points in both of their last two league matches, defeating SV Elversberg 07 (1-0) on an eighty-first minute goal from Livan Burcu before managing a scoreless draw against Borussia Dortmund (0-0).

Union are unbeaten in their last three matches against Augsburg (2-1-0), dating back to the last day of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season. Their 2025/26 head-to-head matches ended in a 1-1 draw away and a 4-0 victory at home. The last time Augsburg picked up a victory was 2-0 away on 15. January 2025 - and their last home victory against Union was in the meeting before, also by a 2-0 score on 14. April 2024.

Burcu played the ball short, back to András Schäfer, and the match was underway - Union, in black, advanced right to left, and Augsburg, in white, went left to right when they got their attacking chances.

The first chance of the day came to the hosts after six minutes, a corner from Fabian Rieder that was crossed far-post and headed just above the top-right corner by Marius Wolf. This was followed by a shot from the edge of the box courtesy of Rieder, from an Anton Kade short pass - easily denied by the hands of a low to the ground Frederik Rønnow.

The match was halted in the ninth minute, as Calvin Brackelmann took an elbow to the head in a one-on-one contest with former Augsburg centre-back Felix Uduokhai, who was looking away from the 27-year-old German centre-back before and at the moment of contact. Brackelmann remained on the ground for three minutes, tended to by medical staff, before eventually being substituted off - with his replacement being 35-year-old veteran Dutch centre-back, Jeffrey Gouweleeuw.

The visitors would finally get their first chance of the day after seventeen minutes of action. Tom Rothe darted into the left side of the Augsburg half before setting up Tim Skarke at the edge of the box; the 30-year-old German forward, in his sixty-fifth appearance for the capital club, followed with a right-footed shot, rolled just wide of Finn Dahmen.

With no chance having come in the next three minutes, the visitors had an opportunity to regroup in their own half and look to move upfield. Uduokhai played the ball to Schäfer, but with Michael Gregoritsch putting pressure behind the Hungarian international, the pass back was hit a bit too hard. Gregoritsch darted towards Uduokhai to attempt a standing tackle, but was pulled down in the process; head official Dr. Robin Braun saw the entirety of these proceedings and, without question, sent Uduokhai to the showers with a direct red card. Rieder’s free kick, aimed towards the top-left corner, was curled over Rønnow, and the visitors made it out of the situation with the score still even at 0-0.

Gregoritsch had two chances of his own in the following five minutes, both on the right side of the Union third - but both were blasted wide. Realising that there was a clear defensive gap on that side of the ground, Mauro Lustrinelli decided to make an early change, replacing Burcu at LAM with 22-year-old Austrian wing-back Leopold Querfeld.

Arijon Ibrahimović would see his first chance of the afternoon just after the half-hour mark, a low roller from the edge of the area that went just to the left of Rønnow and out of play. Rieder then had another chance in the thirty-fourth minute, bouncing to the right of the 34-year-old Danish goalkeeper from 20 metres out.

Querfeld pulled down Ibrahimović at the edge of the box in the thirty-sixth minute, causing Braun to hand the former a yellow card - the third against Union in the match, with Uduokhai (red) and Janik Haberer (yellow) having taken bookings earlier. The ensuing free kick was then taken by the 20-year-old German attacking midfielder, blasted off the body of Zeno van den Bosch and cleared by the Union defence.

In the forty-fourth minute, Kade powered a shot from long range, off the body of Rani Khedira and out for a corner to the hosts. Following the cross from Ibrahimović into the centre of the box, Gregoritsch attempted to knock the ball past Jeong Woo-yeong, who was directly in front of him - but the 27-year-old South Korean attacking midfielder deflected it with his right knee and the visitors had some time to reset after Rothe hoofed the ball away.

After three additional minutes, Braun called both sides to the locker rooms, still even at 0-0. Shots in the opening term finished 12-2 in favour of Augsburg, but only 2-0 on target on the pair of chances from Rieder (8’) and Gregoritsch (17’). The hosts held 67 % possession and managed a pass accuracy of 86 % on 264 completions, compared to 69 % on 108 for the visitors. Touches in the opposing penalty area were well in favour of the hosts, 24-2.

Ibrahimović kicked off the second half with an immediate ground pass to Han-Noah Massengo, who played the ball to his left to Hennes Behrens. Augsburg now went right to left in this term, with Union going left to right.

For most of the first eleven minutes of the term, Augsburg found their way in and around the Union penalty area, but just could not launch a decent chance in the direction of Rønnow. In the fifty-sixth minute, Gregoritsch crossed the ball into the centre of the box, but it was well away from Kade or Ibrahimović and was smothered by the hands of Rønnow. The Austrian international would then get on the end of a cross from Behrens two minutes later, attempting to knock the ball to the goalmouth for Rieder - but the 34-year-old Danish goalkeeper read the play well, smothering the ball with both hands.

In the sixty-third minute, Juma Bah slipped on the turf in a contest for possession, incidentally stepping on the ankle of Rothe. To his surprise, the 20-year-old Sierra Leonean wing-back was sent off by Braun - the remainder of the match would be played with ten against ten. Rothe clutched his ankle instantly, and had to be tended to by the visiting medical staff; he was eventually able to get back up and continue.

Union started to put pressure in the three minutes following the booking, but Augsburg returned to maintaining possession around the sixty-seventh minute. The hosts made their way into the right side of the box; Wolf outmuscled Jeong and flicked the ball in the direction of Gregoritsch, who was under pressure from van den Bosch. His header did not test Rønnow too much, easily gloving it down with both hands.

In the seventy-first minute, Augsburg would finally find a breakthrough. Rieder and Wolf passed the ball between them on the right side of the Union third, eventually leading to a near-post cross from the latter. Massengo got into the space and dove to head the ball just before van den Bosch’s high right boot could clear it, deflecting it past a leaping Rønnow and into the bottom-right corner to give the hosts the advantage. It was the first goal of the campaign for the 20-year-old French defensive midfielder, in his second season at the club after arriving from then-Premier League side Burnley FC.

Union were unfazed by the opening strike, and made sure that the score was back even just five minutes later. Van den Bosch’s cross was blocked by the glove of Dahmen; it led to a goalmouth scramble, and a failed clearance from Gouweleeuw deflected off the body of Haberer, who then tapped it over to bring the score to 1-1. Braun checked with VAR officials Patrick Hanslbauer and Michael Bacher to determine whether Haberer’s arm made purposeful contact with the ball on the deflection, but it was determined that it was incidental and the goal stood.

Augsburg nearly found a response to Union’s response with ten minutes remaining, as Behrens supplied a through ball into the left side of the box to Mert Kömür. The 21-year-old Turkish attacking midfielder, who took the place of Ibrahimović just nine minutes earlier, made his way close to the goal area before blasting a shot off the side netting. The other substitute from that minute, Robin Fellhauer, set up Kade on the other side of the box two minutes later - but his attempt went wide of the right post.

The hosts nearly had another chance to claim all three points in the eighty-seventh minute. Fellhauer delivered a cross from the right side of the Union third, into the path of Gregoritsch - the 32-year-old had a wide open goal, but hit the ball off the wrong side of his left boot and blasted it over the bar.

Neither side saw a significant chance in the five minutes of second half stoppage time, and Braun called time on the match with the points split between the two sides - a 1-1 draw at WWK Arena. Augsburg move one place up to ninth in the table, and Union remain in one of the relegation spots at seventeenth.

Shots in the second half finished 11-4 to Augsburg, 3-1 on target with 65 % possession. Pass accuracy finished 86 % on 255 passes to Augsburg, 72 % on 116 to Union; touches in the opposing penalty area finished 15-6 to the hosts. Overall, Augsburg dominated this match, with shots 25-6 and shots on target 5-1; the hosts held 66 % possession and managed a pass accuracy of 86 % on 519 completions, compared to 70 % on 224. Touches in the opposing penalty area finished 39-8 to the Bavarian side.

FC Augsburg will visit SG Sonnenhof Großaspach in the second round of the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday, 18.00 (CET), before hosting SC Freiburg next Saturday at 15.30 (CET). 1. FC Union Berlin will visit 1. FC Köln in the Pokal on Tuesday, 20.45 (CET), before hosting Effzeh at Stadion An der Alten Försterei next Sunday at 13.30 (CET).