Augsburg vs. Borussia Dortmund: Winners and Losers from Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund came from behind to beat Augsburg 3-1 away from home on Matchday 27 of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season on Sunday.
Both sides had to make do without important players. The hosts missed No. 1 goalkeeper Marwin Hitz due to a cold, while Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubabmeyang didn't join his team following the death of his grandfather during the week.
Augsburg caught the better start and scored the opener through Iceland international Alfred Finnbogason in the 16th minute. The Black and Yellows had all the possession but failed to make significant breakthroughs against the hosts' five-chain in defence until very late in the half. Henrikh Mkhitaryan got the equaliser moments before the break.
Dortmund looked more convincing in the second half and took the lead thanks to a goal from half-time substitute Gonzalo Castro in the 69th minute, six minutes before Aubameyang's replacement on the day, Adrian Ramos, scored the decisive third goal.
Augsburg once again failed to bring home a lead—they wasted a three-goal cushion against Bayer Leverkusen in their previous match at the WWK Arena—and remain entrenched in the relegation battle, sitting 15th in the table, level on points with Hoffenheim and Frankfurt in the drop zone.
Dortmund, on the other hand, keep their streak going as the Bundesliga heads into an international break; they're still unbeaten in 2016. They remain five points behind table-toppers Bayern Munich.
Here, B/R picks the winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
1 of 5
There's not much left to say about the performances of Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Dortmund this season. On Sunday, he was once again without a shadow of doubt the best player on the pitch, catalysing his team-mates with determination and skill time and time again.
It's no surprise that he scored the equaliser, his 20th goal of the campaign. It's also no surprise that he initiated the move himself with a lovely nutmeg—he had four or five of those against Augsburg.
Dortmund's plan for large parts of the game seemed to consist of only one thing: Give the ball to Mkhitaryan and let him work his magic. The Armenian often delivered big when his team-mates turned to him.
Matthias Dersch of local paper Ruhr Nachrichten (link in German) rated his performance with a grade that translates to eight out of 10 and noted that the 27-year-old was involved in every attack his team produced.
Loser: Markus Weinzierl
2 of 5
It's very harsh to call Augsburg head coach Markus Weinzierl a loser, seeing as no one would've expected any other result than a Dortmund win on Sunday. And, to be fair to him, his side did far better against the Black and Yellows than many other teams, even some higher-rated ones.
Still, however, the fact remains that Augsburg are the weekend's big losers from all the teams in the relegation battle—excluding Hannover whose relegation is all but done and dusted.
Darmstadt drew at Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim won at Hamburg, Bremen drew with Mainz and Frankfurt beat Hannover. Augsburg's inability to see out games—according to German broadcaster Sky, they'd already lost 19 points from winning positions this season before the game—could curse the Swabians.
Winner: Adrian Ramos
3 of 5
Adrian Ramos had a forgettable game for at least an hour. It was one moment of brilliance that got him in the game and, arguably, allowed him to become the man of the match.
Mats Hummels played a long ball over the top of Augsburg's defence, and Ramos found himself alone in the penalty box. Not only did he pick the ball out of the air, difficult as it was, he also shielded it long enough for Castro to make his run into a shooting position.
That assist showed all the quality Ramos possesses, and he later rewarded himself with a tap-in for the third goal.
Statistically, the 30-year-old is the Bundesliga's most effective player. Per the club's official website (link in German), he's been involved in a goal every 50 minutes he's been on the pitch this season.
As Spielverlagerung.com's Tom Payne noted during the game on Twitter, "he's come a long way under [Thomas] Tuchel."
Loser: Shinji Kagawa
4 of 5
Shinji Kagawa's performance on Sunday was OK, taken by itself. He wasn't brilliant, especially because he made bad decisions too frequently, but he wasn't bad.
He makes this list not because of his own performance, but because of those of substitutes Gonzalo Castro and Moritz Leitner.
Castro scored the second goal and looked very strong overall, showing off his confidence by skipping past defenders with ease a number of times, while Leitner helped calm the game down, completing an astounding 97.4 per cent of his passes, per WhoScored.com.
Unlike those two, Kagawa doesn't get to enjoy the international break in Dortmund, he'll be collecting frequent-flyer miles travelling to Japan instead.
Winner: Thomas Tuchel
5 of 5
Let's not sugarcoat it: Dortmund were very poor in the first half. Head coach Thomas Tuchel admitted as much in his press conference after the game, per the club's Twitter (link in German), saying that his side's physical and mental strain of the recent weeks was plain to see.
It's understandable that a team that has now gone through six English weeks—as Germans call weeks that include midweek fixtures—doesn't look extremely fresh against a disciplined opponent.
Tuchel turned things around with a flurry of moves during the second half. We already mentioned the introductions of Castro and Leitner, but beyond personnel, the 42-year-old constantly tinkered with the roles of his players.
Mkhitaryan switched over to the left side of attack, where Marco Reus had been quiet during the first half, which allowed the Armenian to drive into the middle more frequently. Castro found himself leading the line at times, which confused Augsburg's central defence.
Tuchel lauded (link in German) his side's mentality and will to win after the game, but it was his in-game coaching that made it happen.
Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
