FC Augsburg vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from DFB-Pokal

Borussia Dortmund advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2015/16 DFB-Pokal with a 2-0 victory at FC Augsburg on Wednesday evening.

It was a meeting of two sides in very good form. The hosts had taken 10 points from their last four games in the Bundesliga and pulled off an almost miraculous 3-1 win over Partizan to advance in the UEFA Europa League earlier in December. Dortmund, meanwhile, came off a comfortable 4-1 win over Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

Augsburg head coach Markus Weinzierl made four changes to his winning side from the weekend, with Paul Verhaegh, Konstantinos Stafylidis, Ji Dong-won and Jan Moravek playing instead of Markus Feulner, Philipp Max, Alexander Esswein and Caiuby. 

Dortmund's only change was a forced one, as Marco Reus was out with a slight knock to his adductors. Somewhat surprisingly, it was Adrian Ramos who replaced the Germany international and not Shinji Kagawa, who had come on for Reus against Frankfurt.

The game didn't offer a lot of excitement in the first half and had only one true goalscoring opportunity before the break, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang couldn't beat Marwin Hitz from a tight angle in the 40th minute.

Dortmund started to really put the foot down in the second half but were lucky not to go behind shortly before the hour mark, when Raul Bobadilla found his master in Roman Burki. Deutsche Welle's Alex Chaffer tweeted: "Weinzierl rightly points out that the game could've been different had Bobadilla scored on 56', but can't do that against Dortmund."

Aubameyang opened the scoring in the 61st minute with a lovely finish after Lukasz Piszczek had won the ball at the edge of Augsburg's box. Henrikh Mkhitaryan doubled his team's lead five minutes later with a deflected shot just beyond Hitz's reach. 

Augsburg never looked likely to get back in the game and Dortmund were closer to scoring a third than the hosts were to halving the deficit. 

Overall, Dortmund deserved to go through to the next round, where they'll travel to Stuttgart in February. Augsburg won't be too beaten up about it, as the DFB-Pokal was more or less a bonus for them.

Without further ado, let's take a look at our winners and losers from the game.

Winner: Mats Hummels and Roman Burki

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We highlighted the importance of Mats Hummels' return to form for his side's silverware hopes after the win over Frankfurt and—if the performance on his birthday in the cup tie in Swabia is any indication—the skipper is continuing to round back into his old self.

Despite the fact that Hummels had to deal with his partner in central defence, Sven Bender, having to be substituted at intermission, Dortmund's No. 15 played flawless. Augsburg pressed the Black and Yellows' midfield high up the pitch, which put a lot of the buildup responsibilities on Hummels' plate. 

He also defended well, choking off most of the attacks of the hosts before they got going. 

On the rare instances Hummels and his team-mates in the back-line allowed Augsburg to access the penalty box, Burki was Johnny-on-the-spot. 

The Switzerland international has struggled at times in his first half year with Dortmund and had only kept two clean sheets since late August. The Black and Yellows too often conceded with the first chance they allowed their opponents and thus had to chase the game more often than their impressive overall record this season would indicate.

Against Augsburg, Burki only really had to make two saves, but they were big ones. We already mentioned that he denied Bobadilla when he could and maybe should've put the hosts in front. Late in the game, Burki saved a shot from former Dortmund man Ji in the 87th minute that could well have made for a nervous final stretch of the game, since Augsburg undoubtedly would have believed they could've scored a last-minute goal for the third game in a row.

Loser: Ji Dong-Won

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Ji not only failed to get his team back into the game three minutes from time, he was also at least partly at fault for his side going behind.

It was the South Korea international who had his attempted clearance blocked by the chest of an advanced Piszczek at the edge of Augsburg's penalty box. The ball fell directly to Aubameyang, who didn't flinch and put his team in the driver's seat. 

The 24-year-old, who spent half a season with the Black and Yellows in 2014 but never once featured for the first team in a competitive match, didn't take the opportunity Weinzierl gave him and will in all likelihood remain a fringe player. He's played in 19 of Augsburg's 25 matches across all competitions but has only once played the full 90 minutes in the Bundesliga. 

Winner: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

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Aubameyang scored his 27th goal of the season against Augsburg—in his 26th appearance. As all great strikers, Aubameyang has a short memory: His beautiful finish came only a minute after he failed to hit the ball at all in a promising position inside the box.

The Gabonese isn't included in this list solely for footballing reasons, however. He actually was fairly quiet for large parts of the game because of Ramos' inclusion in the starting XI, which had Aubameyang spend much more time than usual on the wings, where he's much less effective.

He looked more like his usual self in a central role, as Chaffer tweeted: "Sign of a striker in scintillating form: Aubameyang almost begging for the ball every time it comes forward. Always moving, eager for more."

He's included also because he dodged what looked like a potentially serious foot injury in the first half. It looked like he got his foot stepped on or maybe even his ankle rolled up a bit. He was hobbling considerably and head coach Thomas Tuchel looked set to bring on Kagawa for his star striker. 

But Aubameyang was able to walk it off and wasn't handicapped at all—as his trademark somersault celebration showed. He even stuck the landing.

Loser: VfB Stuttgart

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The Swabians enjoyed a highly emotional win over 2. Bundesliga side Braunschweig in Wednesday's early kick-off, beating the Lions 3-2 after extra time. 

The happiness will have subsided quickly a few hours after the final whistle, when the draw took place in a German football talkshow. While the DFB-Pokal will in all likelihood not be a priority for a side that's sitting last in the league table after 16 matchdays and that's looking likely to be in a fight against relegation all season long, they still would've preferred a different draw.

With Bochum and Heidenheim, two 2. Bundesliga sides made the quarter-finals. Beating one of them would've given Stuttgart a moral boost in February. As it went, the Swabians will face one of the two far and away best teams in Germany, against whom they had little chance in caretaker head coach Jurgen Kramny's first game in November.

Winner: Konstantinos Stafylidis

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Augsburg's 22-year-old left-back made the most of his rare opportunity to start—unlike the other players Weinzierl rotated into the team. The Greek defender was aggressive, agile and showed impressive pace, even winning a sprint duel with Aubameyang at one point.

Stafylidis played a large role in keeping the Gabonese in check when he played predominantly on the right side of Dortmund's attack. 

Signed as one of two new left-backs in the wake of Abdul Rahman Baba leaving for Chelsea, the 22-year-old was the regular starter at the start of the campaign until an ankle injury kept him out for a few weeks. Max, the other newly arrived left-back, has played the full 90 minutes in all but one Bundesliga match since the Greece international went down with his injury, but he hasn't looked terribly convincing.

His performance against Dortmund might have earned Stafylidis another look in the most important competition for Augsburg.