Bundesliga: Dortmund woes continue with shock defeat to Augsburg

Borussia Dortmund’s woes continued as they fell to a surprise 2-1 defeat away to FC Augsburg on Saturday afternoon in the Bundesliga.

Although the visitors made an electrifying start to the match through Dutch forward Donyell Malen, Augsburg equalised in the 25th minute through a powerful long-range strike by Frenchman Alexis Claude-Maurice.

The 26-year-old then added his second of the day five minutes after the break to secure maximum points for the resolute hosts.

Dortmund’s nightmare performance worsened deep into injury time when teenager Almugera Kabar was shown a second yellow card, becoming the third player in the club’s history to be sent off on their Bundesliga debut.

Defeat leaves BVB in seventh with 13 points, while Augsburg climbed to 11th with 10 points.

Nuri Sahin, who replaced Edin Terzic as head coach last summer, has faced heavy criticism for Dortmund’s lacklustre performances this season.

Speaking after their third league defeat in five games, the BVB boss encouraged his side to remain united.

“Having [close to] 80% possession does not necessarily mean more chances. We just did not get into the danger area often enough,” Sahin said.

“Fact is, for 80% possession we had far too few chances. We need to work on creating more chances.

“Our squad is not without experience and I expect all of us together, players and coaches, to face this current situation and go through it together.”

Dortmund hope to return to winning ways against visiting RB Leipzig next Saturday in the Bundesliga, with online bookmakers paying +120 for BVB to beat the league leaders (+210).

Meanwhile, Augsburg will be on the road against 14th-placed VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday, and soccer betting sites have the visitors as +250 outsiders to beat the Wolves (-105.26) in the league.

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