Dortmund slump to defeat at Augsburg

Union salvage draw against Gladbach

BERLIN, Sept 26, (AP): One week after their young attacking stars impressed in the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Augsburg.

Gio Reyna, Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham grabbed the headlines in beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 in the opening round, but were frustrated by a stubborn defense marshaled by Augsburg goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz on Saturday.

Dortmund dominated the first half with eight efforts on target, but Felix Uduokhai scored with Augsburg’s only chance of the half, heading home a free kick from close range in the 40th minute.

Former Schalke player Daniel Caligiuri doubled the lead in the 54th, holding off Thomas Meunier’s challenge before shooting past Dortmund ‘keeper Roman Bürki.

Dortmund coach Lucien Favre sent on Marco Reus and Julian Brandt with half an hour to play, to little effect. The 18-year-old Brazilian Reinier followed for his Bundesliga debut in the 69th, but he couldn’t lift the side either.

Gikiewicz denied Mats Hummels, then Haaland late on, as Augsburg claimed their second win in two games.

Gikiewicz’s former side, Union Berlin, salvaged a 1-1 draw at Gladbach thanks to Nico Schlotterbeck’s late equalizer. Marcus Thuram scored with a deflected header for Gladbach in the 56th.

Bayer Leverkusen and Leipzig drew 1-1, and promoted sides Arminia Bielefeld and Stuttgart enjoyed wins over Cologne and Mainz, respectively.

Joan Simun Edmundsson scored for Bielefeld to win 1-0, and Stuttgart fought back to win in Mainz 4-1.

Limited numbers of fans have been allowed at most games since last weekend for the first time since restrictions began in March.

Hertha Berlin coach Bruno Labbadia had to wait 5-1/2 months for his first game with supporters cheering on his side. They didn’t help. Hertha lost at home to Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 in the Bundesliga, the first time fans were allowed to attend a soccer game in Berlin’s Olympia Stadion since coronavirus restrictions began in March.

Labbadia was appointed coach in April, when the league was still suspended. He had to wait till May 16 for his debut. His first nine league games were all played without spectators last season, before a limited number of Werder Bremen fans were allowed see visiting Hertha’s 4-1 win in the new season’s first round.

Just 4,000 Hertha fans were allowed for Frankfurt’s visit, and they arrived full of optimism after another summer of rebuilding at the club.

But the visitors dominated from the start and took a deserved lead through André Silva’s penalty in the 30th minute, after the Portuguese forward was fouled by Hertha captain Dedryck Boyata.

Bas Dost made it 2-0 with a header to Daichi Kamada’s free kick six minutes later, and Sebastian Rode grabbed Frankfurt’s third with a fine strike in off the far post in the 70th.

Martin Hinteregger’s own goal in the 76th was too little, too late, for Hertha.

Hertha’s players wore jerseys with “for Pauline” across them in an appeal to find stem cell donors for an eightmonth-old girl with leukemia.