Borussia Dortmund secured second place in the Bundesliga standings with a 2-0 victory over Augsburg this afternoon. Results in other areas also mean that Dortmund has also narrowed the gap with leaders Bayern to 9 points.
Rodrigo Ribeiro posed an early threat for the visitors, but Dortmund opened the scoring in the 13th minute. Daniel Svensson passed to Maxi Beier on the left and cut the ball into the six-yard box, which was converted by Karim Adeyemi.
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Ribeiro almost profited from Valdemar Anton’s error but the Portuguese striker was unable to test Gregor Kerber. Dortmund’s lead could have been doubled when Bale’s shot hit the crossbar just before the half-hour mark.
The home side continued to pile on the pressure and struck the aluminum again minutes later through Adeyemi. Job Bellingham’s curling ball hit the Augsburg keeper again and Bale should have done better when Ryerson crossed.
The game took some time to come alive again after the break. As has often been the case this season, set-pieces once again bore fruit – Julian Ryerson giving 18-year-old Luca Reggiani his first senior goal.
Afterwards, Daniel Baum tried to inject some energy into his team, with Elvis Rexhbecaj and Anton Kade coming on. Further changes in the forward ranks with Michael Gregoric still unable to wrest control from Dortmund.
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Niko Kovac’s side were dealt a blow when Daniel Svensson limped off in place of Fabio Silva. The latter could have increased the score had Adeyemi been less selfish, but Damen saved Augsburg.
The Westphalians emptied their bench in the final moments, with Jan Couto, Kani Chukwuemeka and Julian Brandt coming on to finish the game. Dahmen’s brilliant late parry stopped Serhu Gilasi’s attack but failed to prevent the Bavarians from defeat.