Augsburg 1 - 3 Borussia Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund win at Augsburg to stay alive in Bundesliga title race

Posted Monday, March 21, 2016 by PA

Borussia Dortmund kept up their pursuit of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga by coming from behind to beat Augsburg 3-1 in Bavaria.

Alfred Finnbogason gave the hosts a 16th-minute lead, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan had Dortmund back on level terms on the stroke of half-time.

Gonzalo Castro and Adrian Ramos added second-half goals to earn Thomas Tuchel's men all three points and restore the five-point deficit to league leaders Bayern Munich, heading into the final seven games of the season.

Augsburg appeared keen to take advantage of potential tiredness in the Dortmund team after their Europa League win at Tottenham on Thursday as Caiuby gave Roman Burki some work to do early on.

The early pressure paid off when Finnbogason raced in to turn Caiuby's cross over the line from close range, with Mats Hummels' desperate lunge unable to keep the ball out.

Dortmund were certainly lacking gloss to their play, but they almost crafted an equaliser when Mkhitaryan teed up Marco Reus. Alexander Manninger denied the Germany international.

Austrian goalkeeper Manninger, who was making his first appearance of the season, was beaten soon after though, when Reus and Mkhitaryan combined again with the latter this time converting, thanks also to a deflection off Jeong-Ho Hong.

Just as Augsburg were starting to get on top again in the second half, Dortmund took the lead.

Hummels picked out Ramos with a deep pass and the Colombian took the ball down on his chest before teeing up Castro to beat Manninger with a shot into the far corner.

Ramos added his own name to the scoresheet with 15 minutes remaining, turning the ball in at the second time of asking after Manninger parried his initial header.

That was enough to end Augsburg's hopes, with the Bavarians' heads dropping and Dortmund holding on to a win which leaves Augsburg above the relegation zone only on goal difference.