Bundesliga – Augsburg vs Mainz: FC Augsburg, who were not very far off from the relegation zone, welcomed mid table side Mainz to the WWK Arena on Wednesday.
Gouweleeuw put the hosts ahead when he converted a penalty in the 11th minute. The scoreline remained unchanged until half-time. Widmer equalised in the 54th minute. However, Vargas regained the lead only a couple of minutes later.
No more goals were scored in the fixture as the game ended with a scoreline of 2-1 in the host’s favour. As a result, Fuggerstädter is now six points clear of the drop zone.
Bundesliga – Augsburg vs Mainz: Match Summary
Full-Time score: Augsburg 2-1 Mainz
Augsburg: Gikiewicz – Gumny, Gouweleeuw (c), Oxford, Iago – Caligiuri (Framberger 88′), Maier (Gruezo 55′), Dorsch, Pedersen (Vargas 54′) – Niederlechner (Pepi 71′), Hahn (Moravek 88′)
Scorer: J Gouweleeuw (11′ pen), R Vargas (56′)
Unused subs: Koubek, Zeqiri, Winther, Finnbogason
Out: Gregoritsch (not included), Sarenren Bazee (knee), Strobl (knee), Uduokhai (thigh)
Mainz: Zentner – Bell, Hack (Barreiro 78′), Niakhate (c) – Widmer, Kohr (Stöger 62′), Boetius, Martin – Lee (Stach 52′) – Onisiwo, Burkardt (Ingvartsen 77′)
Scorer: S Widmer (54′)
Unused subs: Dahmen, Brosinski, Nemeth, Lucoqui, Nebel
Out: Burgzorg (heart), St. Juste (shoulder)
Post match reactions
Florian Niederlechner: “I straddle the ball before the penalty and then noticed a touch in a duel. But when you see the pictures now, you have to say that it wasn’t a penalty – but it wasn’t a swallow either. All in all, it was a big step for us, which is incredibly good. Mainz played well, but we fought back and that’s how you have to do it in the relegation battle. I’m absolutely proud of the boys.”
Jeffrey Gouweleeuw: “We stuck together as a team. We knew that Mainz would be very robust and physical here, and we had to counteract that. It’s going to be a completely different game against Bayern, but we’ll take today’s confidence to Munich and see what’s possible there.”
Ruben Vargas: “We have set ourselves so many goals today and we knew that it wouldn’t be easy. At the end there is an enormously important victory. I think it was my second touch of the ball that scored today’s winning goal. After Sunday that was another important step, now we want to continue like this. We’re not done yet.”
