Dortmund stay atop Bundesliga standings
De Paul and Lopez lead Udinese to a dominating win over Sampdoria
Borussia Dortmund kept their rivals at arm’s length after beating Augsburg 2-1 and Thorgan Hazard’s late strike secured Monchengladbach a 2-1 win over Hannover in the seventh round in Bundesliga.
Borussia Dortmund reaped their fourth win in row after moving 2-1 past Augsburg on the first-half goals from Andrey Yarmolenko and Shinji Kagawa on Saturday. The ‘BVB’ grabbed a fairytale start on the road as summer signing Andrey Yarmolenko protected the ball inside the box to slot home with his back heel following a corner in the 4th minute.
Augsburg remained unimpressed and levelled the scores only seven minutes later as Philipp Max’ cross found Caiuby Francisco da Silva, who headed home from inside the box. However, Dortmund remained on the front foot and restored their one-goal lead after Shinji Kagawa completed a combination with a chip over onrushing custodian Marwin Hitz with 23 minutes played.
After the restart, Augsburg took the reins and worked out a promising chance through Caiuby, who forced goalkeeper Roman Buerki to make a save in the 59th minute. Dortmund had the chance to extend their lead against the run of the play as referee Marco Fritz awarded the visitors a penalty. PierreEmerick Aubameyang stepped up but lobbed the ball into the arms of goalie Hitz in the 79th minute. Augsburg dominated and pressed forward but they lacked in accuracy and were unable to secure one point on home soil. In Rome, Argentina’s Rodrigo De Paul and Maxi Lopez led Udinese to a dominating 4-0 home win over Sampdoria in Serie A football action.
On Saturday, De Paul netted the first goal by converting a penalty in the 27th minute, while Gomez notched the second — also from the 12-yard mark — in the 66th minute at Friuli Stadium in the northeastern city of Udine, reports Efe news agency.
Paraguayan Edgar Barreto added to Sampdoria’s woes as he was sent off after being shown a second yellow card five minutes before halftime.
Lopez then scored the third goal in the 85th minute, while Ivorian Seko Fofana netted Udinese’s fourth goal — yet again on a penalty conversion — deep into stoppage time.