Having won their last three Bundesliga matches, the Dortmund camp walked into this match against Augsburg with their heads high. A strong lineup from Stöger also meant that they weren’t messing around.

The game was exciting from kick-off, shots coming from both sides. It wouldn’t be until the 16th minute that a goal from Marco Reus would put Dortmund up by a goal. Mario Götze gave the ball to Schürrle who whipped it central for Reus to pick up after a poor clearance attempt from an Augsburg defender. Beautiful build-up play to a great goal.

From then on until halftime, Dortmund dominated possession and attack, but couldn’t quite finish with a goal. It seemed that the protesting fans who boycotted the Monday night game were going to miss an excellent match.

After the start of the second half, the Black and Yellows came out of the gates without a sense of urgency, and seemed lazy. Eventually their poor efforts would come back to haunt them, when Augsburg scored off a corner kick in the 73rd minute.

Borussia Dortmund tried desperately to get a goal before the match ended, with Sokratis diving in the penalty box, Götze taking long shots, and Mahmoud Dahoud narrowly shooting above the crossbar. Soon enough, the referee blew the whistle, and the game ended 1-1.

The good news is that Dortmund is still in 2nd in the Bundesliga, but only by one point. Stöger and the boys are going to have to make sure they can keep up the form they showed in the first half of the game if they want to achieve their goals this season.

Other points of interest

Borussia Dortmund fans boycotted the Monday night match, and as a result the Westfalonstadion was not nearly as full as usual. Stadium atmosphere was lacking and perhaps the response from Die Borussen and the Eintracht Frankfurt fans will make the Bundesliga reconsider their actions.