Head coach Peter Bosz did not see any reason to rotate his team after last Thursday’s emphatic 6-2 win in the Europa League home game against Nice. Only Daley Sinkgraven started in place of Wendell on the left side of the back four. Julian Baumgartlinger played in a three-man midfield in a holding position normally taken by captain Charles Aránguiz. The Chilean was ruled out through injury. Mitchell Weiser replaced youth striker Emrehan Gedikli in the squad.
The opening stages of the game at a once again empty BayArena were marked by a battling and hard-running encounter between the two teams. Augsburg waited for the hosts just before the halfway line and sometimes they dropped back to the opposition penalty area for long kicks from Lukas Hradecky. After 12 minutes, it was Leon Bailey coming in from the right who unleashed the first shot in the direction of Rafal Gikiewicz. But the Pole had no trouble making the save.
The Augsburg goalkeeper was helpless four minutes later. From a corner by Nadiem Amiri, Lucas Alario got his head to the ball in the penalty area and it struck the hand of the FCA defender Raphael Framberger – referee Sören Storks rightly pointed to the spot. Alario confidently converted the penalty to make it 1-0 (16’). Following the opening goal, the Werkself played their usual possession game with the statistics revealing a possession rate of 75 per cent for Bayer 04 after 20 minutes.
Bosz was forced into making the first substitution just after the half-hour mark: Augsburg’s Iago caught Lars Bender on the head with his shoulder in an aerial challenge with the Werkself captain having to receive treatment. Due to a problem with his neck he was unable to carry on. Lars was replaced by Aleksandar Dragovic and Sven Bender took the captain’s armband (36’). As neither side were able to produce anything worthy of note the two teams went into the half-time break with Leverkusen just ahead.
Just three minutes after the restart, there was a chance to extend the lead: Moussa Diaby cut into the box from the left to receive a perfect pass from Bailey. The France U21 international opted – with only Gikiewicz to beat – to square the ball to Amiri. However, an Augsburg leg intervened at the last moment. And then the inevitable happened: The squandered gilt-edged opportunity was punished shortly after that.
The visitors equalised with their first real chance of the game: Via a number of players, the ball came to Daniel Caligiuri on the right side of the penalty area, he made a sidestep and then hit the ball into the back of the net at the near post (52’). The match developed into an evenly balanced encounter at the BayArena with FCA creating one or two chances. But it was the hosts who had the best chance to take the lead: A shot from substitute Florian Wirtz rebounded off Gikiewicz and Bailey’s ensuing effort hit the bar (66’).
And on 72 minutes the FCA goal frame was rattled again: This time, goalscorer Alario headed a Diaby cross against the left-hand post. Two minutes later the Argentinian went one better – restoring the lead with a header from an Amiri free kick (74’). It was the fourth goal in three games for the 28-year-old. The double goalscorer left the pitch in the closing stages of the game to make way for Karim Bellarabi to make Bundesliga appearance 200 (81’). In the third minute of added time, FCA keeper Gikiewicz came up for a free kick and the resulting counter-attack from the Werkself saw Diaby race clear to tuck the ball into an empty FCA net for the final score of 3-1.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Hradecky – L. Bender (Dragovic 36’), S. Bender, Tapsoba, Sinkgraven – Palacios (Wirtz 63’), Baumgartlinger, Amiri – Bailey, Alario (Bellarabi 81’), Diaby
Augsburg: Gikiewicz – Framberger (Gumny 81’), Gouweleeuw, Uduokhai, Iago – Khedira (Richter 81’), Gruezo – Hahn (Jensen 46’), Caligiuri – Gregoritsch (Vargas 46’), Niederlechner (Strobl 73’)
Goals: 1-0 Alario (16’), 1-1 Caligiuri (52’), 2-1 Alario (74’), 3-1 Diaby (90+3’)
Booked: Alario – Framberger, Vargas
Referee: Sören Storks (Velen)
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