Match Report
BVB lose 0-1 to Augsburg
Boris Rupert reporting
It was a sunny and warm early spring day, and the 81,365 spectators in a sold out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK witnessed a BVB who for more than 75 minutes played too slowly and too staticly against an opposition who, despite not doing more than they needed to, managed to go a goal up out of nowhere in the 23rd minute: Gouweleeuw scored from a header to make it 0-1.
The scenario:
Tenth place against eleventh place. There were three points between Borussia Dortmund (35) and FC Augsburg (32), who were undefeated in their last eight games, and had not conceded in the last four rounds. The Swabians had gained points in eight of their last 16 Bundesliga games against the Black&Yellows (three wins, five draws), but in their entire Bundesliga history have conceded more goals against BVB than against any other team (68).
Personell matters:
Coach Niko Kovac had to go without Felix Nmecha (rehabilitation training) and Daniel Svensson (knee ligament injury), as well as Carney Chukwuemeka, who was also not fit to play. After the Champions League game against OSC Lille four days earlier (1-1), he made changes to three positions at the back of his starting eleven. Yan Couto, Ramy Bensebaini and Salih Özcan replaced Svensson, Julian Ryerson and Marcel Sabitzer (both on the bench).
Tactics:
Kovac goes for continuity when it comes to both personell and tactics. In a 4-2-3-1 formation, Bensebaini moved to play alongside Özcan in defensive midfield when BVB were in possession, while Groß moved forward one position to play alongside Brandt in attacking midfield. Augsburg played in a 3-4-2-1 formation and applied a high press, which involved up to five players in the starting phase. If this line was outplayed, they moved back rapidly. Overall, the opposition played in a very unified way. Guirassy was always covered by two central defenders.
Match & Analysis:
BVB had problems outplaying the opposition's lines because a lot of their balls weren't played with enough precision, or they had difficulties controlling and driving forward with the ball. Despite having 63 per cent possession in the first 25 minutes and five corners compared to their opponents' zero, there were no serious chances to score. And Augsburg? The opposition got a free kick in the 23rd minute in the left midfield. Wolf fired the ball into the right hand side of the penalty area, where Gouweleeuw had plenty of space and got his head to it. It travelled and travelled, passing over Kobel and landing in the left of the goal to make the score 0-1.
Four minutes after the start of the second half, the ball was in the Augsburg net. After a short pass from a corner, Gittens crossed the ball to the far post, Schlotterbeck got his head to it, and Brandt nudged the ball over the line - but was offside by a hair. VAR took two minutes to confirm the offside call. Ten minutes later, it took even longer. Augsburg free kick (Wolf), header by Gouweleeuw, own goal by Özcan. VAR then checked when Bensebaini's hand had gone up to play him onside, and it came down to Aytekin at the monitor to decide: no goal.
Kovac brought on Beier as a second striker and changed the formation to a line of three with Ryerson, Can and Schlotterbeck. Gittens (shortly afterwards replaced by Duranville) was now coming from the right, Adeyemi from the left. But the Dortmund game still suffered from too many imprecisions. In the 84th minute, Beier missed an opportunity to equalise from Duranville's cross at the right post. He was unable to get his head to the ball as it was deflected.
There were eight minutes of added time: in the 92nd minute, Sabitzer took a shot from 18 metres away, but Guirassy was blocking the way. Guirassy took a shot on the turn, narrowly missing the left post (90+3).
Outlook:
The Black&Yellows have two important away games coming up next week: on Wednesday (kick-off 18:45 CET) they will be playing OSC Lille to decide who will continue to the quarter final of the UEFA Champions League. On Saturday (18:30 CET) they will have the opportunity to gain valuable points in the Bundesliga against Leipzig.
Teams & Goals
Bundesliga, 25th matchday
Saturday, 8th March 2025, 15:30 CET
BORUSSIA DORTMUND – FC AUGSBURG 0-1 (0-1)
Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Couto (Beier, 63), Can, N. Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini (Ryerson, 63) – Özcan, Groß (Sabitzer, 75) – Adeyemi (Anton, 90+2), Brandt, Gittens (Duranville, 75) – Guirassy
FC Augsburg: Dahmen – Matsima, Gouweleeuw, Zesiger – Wolf (Banks, 81), Onyeka, Rexhbecaj (Jakic, 58), Giannoulis – Jensen (Kömür, 75), Claude-Maurice (Maier, 75) – Tietz (Essende, 58)
Bench: Meyer, Reyna, Süle – Labrovic, Meiser, K. Schlotterbeck, Mounié
Goal: 0-1 Gouweleeuw (Wolf, 23)
Corners: 12-3 (9-0 at half time), Chances: 2-2 (0-1)
Referee: Aytekin (Oberasbach), Yellow cards: Guirassy – Rexhbecaj, Onyeka, Banks
Spectators: 81,365 (sold out), Weather: sunny, 19 degrees