Florian Niederlechner haunts his former club as Augsburg hold Freiburg to 1-1 draw
Florian Niederlechner's goal against his former club prevented Freiburg from recording a fourth win in five games as Augsburg took a deserved point from the Schwarzwald-Stadion in a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Freiburg 1-1 Augsburg
Goals: 1-0 Höler (24'), 1-1 Niederlechner (39')
Freiburg knew a win would temporarily take them to the league’s summit and the hosts came racing out of the blocks early on. They were in front midway through the first half as Lukas Höler thumped a low strike into the near corner after Christian Günter’s powerful run. Augsburg were struggling to stem the flow of attacks from the home side, but in Niederlechner they have a proven finisher and were level shortly before half-time. The former Freiburg striker’s celebration was a muted one as he calmly found the far corner with his instep, following an excellent move and an incisive pass by Jan Moravek.
The second half was a much more closely contested affair as both sides' defence proved tricky to break down, but the introduction of two Germany U-21 starlets in Marco Richter and Luca Waldschmidt saw the tempo on both sides go up a notch. Still, the goalmouth action remained scarce until five minutes from time when Freiburg struck the same post twice in a matter of moments through first Nicolas Höfler and then Petersen’s glancing header. The visitors rode that good fortune to claim a hard-earned point, while Christian Streich's men recorded a first draw of the campaign.
Match stats
- With three goals and two assists, former Freiburg forward Niederlechner has been Augsburg’s deadliest attacker.
- Niederlechner is enjoying the best start to a Bundesliga season his career, scoring three times his first five games.
- The 28-year-old scored 26 Bundesliga goals for Freiburg between 2016 and 2019.
- Waldschmidt top scored for Germany with seven goals on their run to the final of the UEFA U19 Championships in the summer. He has two goals for Freiburg this term.
- Grifo made his third Bundesliga debut for the Black Forest club. He scored 26 goals in 71 matches in his previous spells.
- There has yet to be a goalless draw in 29 competitive meetings between these two teams.
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Line-ups
Freiburg: Schwolow – Lienhart, Koch, Heintz – Schmid, Haberer, Höfler, Günter – Höler (Waldschmidt 75'), Petersen, Frantz (c) (Grifo 35')
Unused subs: Thiede, Schlotterbeck, Abrashi, Kübler, Gondorf, Sallai, Kwon,
Out: Flekken (ankle), Gulde (back), Terrazzino (knee)
Coach: Christian Streich
Augsburg: Koubek – Lichtsteiner, Jedvaj, Uduokhai, Max – Hahn (Richter 70'), Moravek (Oxford 46'), Khedira, Vargas – Niederlechner (Gregoritsch 80'), Finnbogason (c)
Unused subs: Luthe, Pedersen, Cordova, Schieber, Jensen, Teigl
Out: Baier (calf), Gouweleeuw (groin), Götze (hip), Gruezo (ankle), Suchy (hip)
Coach: Martin Schmidt
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