Thanks to great morale, FC Augsburg gave its new coach Jess Thorup a perfect debut in the Bundesliga.
The Bavarian Swabians turned around a two-goal deficit in a 5:2 (3:2) win against promoted team 1. FC Heidenheim and secured their second win of the season at the end of the 8th matchday. Striker Phillip Tietz (29th minute), Mads Pedersen (41st), goalkeeper Ermedin Demirovic (42nd), Felix Uduokhai (64th) and Elvis Rexhbecaj (88th) scored with a hand penalty for FCA, which Thorup scored exactly a week ago as the successor to Enrico Maaßen.
League newcomer Heidenheim was on course to celebrate its third home win in a row after two early goals from Tim Kleindienst (17th) and Jan-Niklas Beste (18th). But then the hosts made far too many mistakes in front of 15,000 spectators in the sold-out arena. In the table, Augsburg, who achieved their first Bundesliga away win in more than a year, moved past Heidenheim and are now in tenth place.
In fine silk to victory
In the encounter between the longest-serving league coach Frank Schmidt (over 16 years in office) and the newcomer Thorup (seven days), the focus was clearly on the Dane. Thorup stood on the sidelines in a fine suit and had to directly observe how difficult things could be with his self-proclaimed “high ambitions”. His team, which he changed to four positions on their debut, took a collective deep sleep of 93 seconds in the early stages, which was severely punished.
First, standard specialist Beste kicked a corner in the middle, which Adrian Beck passed across to Kleindienst. The hosts’ celebration had barely died down after the 1-0 win when Augsburg’s defense looked bad again: Kleindienst secured the ball in the middle, Omar Traoré was faster than all of his opponents on the right and Beste switched faster than in the middle the Augsburg defenders. Thorup was threatened with a sporting debacle at the start.
Heidenheim in old patterns
But Heidenheim had the same fate as it did in the home premiere against Hoffenheim. The Schmidt team was too careless with a 2-0 lead and allowed themselves more and more carelessness. When the first goal was conceded, Tietz was completely free after a corner; his powerful volley shot was deflected unstoppable by captain Patrick Mainka. From that moment on, the game tipped more and more towards the guests. It was the first Augsburg goal in over two months in which captain Demirovic was not directly involved.
But this became important before halftime. First, full-back Pedersen curled a remarkable shot into the top right corner of the goal to make it 2-2 – then it was Demirovic’s turn, who had scored or prepared the last six goals before the Heidenheim game. A sharp cross from Frederik Jensen flicked Demirovic over the line at the second post and scored his fifth goal of the season.
The happy striker demonstratively celebrated with his colleagues in front of the hosts’ corner – he was met with anger from some fans. After the change, the game lost significant momentum. Augsburg’s fans lit up more and more pyrotechnics, defender Uduokhai’s fourth goal – again from a corner – ensured the decision, before Rexhbecaj scored the final point with a penalty.
