Augsburg coach finally makes debut after waiting 75 days

After waiting 75 days, Heiko Herrlich finally made his debut in charge of Augsburg in a 3-0 win at Schalke in the Bundesliga yesterday.

Herrlich had been due to make his Augsburg debut as the league resumed from its coronavirus-induced two-month break last weekend, but he broke quarantine restrictions to buy toiletries just days before and had to watch from afar as his side was beaten 2-1 at home by Wolfsburg.

Herrlich was only allowed to return to lead the side after twice testing negative for COVID-19, as per the league's strict hygiene measures against the pandemic.

He could hardly have had a better start against Schalke in Gelsenkirchen.

Eduard Löwen opened the scoring with a fine free kick in the sixth minute, Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee punished a Schalke defensive error in the 76th and Sergio Cordova wrapped up Augsburg's win in injury time.

Leipzig seemed to enjoy playing in an empty stadium with no protesters as it routed host Mainz 5-0 to move third in the Bundesliga yesterday.

Germany forward Timo Werner scored a hat trick. He opened the scoring in the 11th minute, and there were more goals from Yussuf Poulsen and Marcel Sabitzer before the break. Werner grabbed two more in the second half.

Leipzig, which beat Mainz 8-0 in front of its own fans earlier this season, took advantage of Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 3-1 loss at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday as it stayed three points behind second-place Borussia Dortmund.

Cologne struck twice in the final few minutes to draw 2-2 with rivals Dusseldorf in the Rhine derby.