Alassane Plea scores maiden Bundesliga goal as Gladbach hold Augsburg

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Alassane Plea came off the bench to score his first Bundesliga goal as Borussia Mönchengladbach fought back to earn a 1-1 draw away Augsburg on Saturday afternoon.

Augsburg 1-1 Gladbach

Goals: 1-0 Gregoritsch (12'), 1-1 Plea (68')

Augsburg started a Bundesliga season with a win for the first time last weekend, and they raced out of the blocks and into an early lead, with Michael Gregoritsch finishing with an emphatic half volley from Phlipp Max’s precise cross. Gladbach struggled to find any rhythm in the face of the hosts’ high pressing, though Jeffrey Gouweleeuw was forced to clear Fabian Johnson's shot off the line after great work by Thorgan Hazard.

An irked Dieter Hecking threw on Plea and Denis Zakaria at the start of the second half, but the Foals boss was indebted to his goalkeeper Yann Sommer for a stunning close range save to deny Gregoritsch a second on 48 minutes. That intervention proved to be a turning point as Gladbach hauled themselves back into the game, with new signing Plea nodding in an equaliser at the back post.

To their credit, both teams stepped up their energy levels in search of a wining goal, but they were let down by an errant final pass and neither came close to scoring. The final whistle ensured both sides begin the season with four points from two games.

Line-ups

Augsburg: Giefer – Schmid, Gouweleeuw, Hinteregger, Max – Khedira, Baier (c) – Richter (Caiuby 72'), Hahn, Koo (Götze 75') – Gregoritsch (Ji 90')
Unused subs: Luthe, Cordova, Framberger, Danso
Absentees: Jakob (knee), Jensen (ankle), Schieber (joint), Stafylidis (muscular), Finnbogason (knee)
Coach: Manuel Baum

 Gladbach: Sommer (c) – Beyer (Zakaria 46'), Ginter, Jantschke, Wendt – Strobl – Hazard, Neuhaus (Cuisance 89'), Hofmann, Johnson – Raffael (Plea 46')
Unused subs: Sippel, Herrmann, Benes, Poulsen
Absentees: Elvedi (appendicitis), Lang (knee), Stindl (ankle), Villalba (muscular)
Coach:Dieter Hecking

Match stats

    Gladbach are yet to win at Augsburg in the Bundesliga (D5, L3) since the latter's promotion to the top flight in 2011.Gregoritsch scored the game's opening goal 13 times. He has 24 Bundesliga goals in total.Andre Hahn left Augsburg for Gladbach in 2014, scoring 14 goals in 68 Bundesliga appearances before moving to Hamburg last summer.Like Hahn, Martin Hinteregger is another former Gladbach player who was on the scoresheet for Augsburg last weekend. The Austrian defender made 10 appearances for the Foals whilst on loan from Red Bull Salzburg during the second half of 2015/16.Finnbogason scored the fastest goal in Augsburg’s Bundesliga history in last season’s corresponding fixture - also played on Matchday 2. The Iceland striker netted after just 34 seconds.Gladbach have not started a season with back-to-back wins since 1995/96.Hazard topped the scoring charts for Gladbach last season with 10 goals - two fewer than Augsburg’s 2017/18 leading marksman Michael Gregoritsch.

Watch: Plea delights in maiden Bundesliga goal

As it happened

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