Hertha BSC were well on their way to claiming three important points against FC Augsburg But in the seventh minute of stoppage time Gregoritsch scored the 1-1 equaliser for FCA.
Hertha coach Pal Dardai sent in two new players after the 2-0 defeat in the derby against Union . Ascacibar and Belfodil started for Tousart and Piatek, who both took their places on the bench.
FCA coach Markus Weinzierl had to make changes in two positions in the comparison to the 2:1 match against Bayern Vargas started for Gouweleeuw, who had to isolate himself due to a positive corona case in his family. Oxford (muscle blister) was replaced by Bundesliga debutant Winther.
Gikiewicz is on hand
The hosts tried to control the game from the start, but had their problems in the early minutes in the build-up against Augsburg, who were running high. As a result, FCA pulled back a bit more and left the midfield to Hertha. However, Hertha met a defensively relatively stable back line of the visitors and initially only appeared twice in front of goal – Belfodil (7th, 21st) was caught twice by the well-saving keeper Gikiewicz.
Gumny’s blunder
The visitors were now more confident on the offensive and had their first good finish through Iago (28.). After a great chip by Dorsch into the path of Vargas (33.), Schwolow made a brilliant save. A blunder by Gumny then gave Hertha the lead. Augsburg seemed to have cleared a back pass, but while Gikiewicz came out of the goal to pick up the ball, Gumny dribbled it out of the penalty area – but in doing so he was energetically interfered with by Richter, who spitzed the ball off the centre-back’s foot into the empty goal (40th).
Triple chance not used
The second half was also characterised by a lot of work in midfield and fighting. Augsburg struggled at first and again left large parts of the pitch to Hertha. However, the hosts were not consistent with their chances. Serdar failed to score against the well-saving Gikiewicz (62nd), Torunarigha (74th) and Jovetic (79th) both scored the supposed 2:0, but both goals were preceded by an offside position. FCA had the best chance – but three shots in one scene did not lead to an equaliser: A long-range shot by Hahn and Iago’s tap-in were both saved by Schwolow, Zeqiri then shot the third ball over the goal (78th).
Instead, it took until the seventh minute of stoppage time before Augsburg were able to celebrate and snatch the three points they thought were safe from Hertha. After a diagonal ball from Dorsch, Jensen lifted the ball into the middle for the last time, where Gregoritsch broke through and headed the ball into the right corner – the lucky punch was perfect! Hertha’s co-trainer Andreas Neuendorf then saw the red card for gross unsportsmanlike conduct towards the fourth official.
