Berlin, Feb 10 (IANS) Ten men Stuttgart slumped into the relegation battle following a hammering 4-1 loss against Augsburg, meanwhile Schalke cruised to a 2-0 victory over Hannover to close the 20th round of Bundesliga.
Augsburg set a new club record with an unbeaten streak of eight matches as the “Fuggerstaedter” flabbergasted Stuttgart 4-1 at the Southern derby, Xinhua reported Sunday.
From the start Stuttgart took the initiative against sloppy hosts. Yet, the visitors were not able to make use of Augsburg’s moments of madness, as neither Vedad Ibsevic nor youngster Timo Werner found the back of the net.
Thus, Augsburg punished Stuttgart for their poor chance conversion when Arkadiusz Milik tapped in Tobias Werner’s cross from close range at the 35th minute.
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The hosts wobbled therefore Augsburg were able to double the lead just eight minutes later through Andre Hahn, who overcame Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich following a through ball by Halil Altintop.
Things changed from bad to worse for the visitors as Ibisevic was sent off with a straight red card for a violent conduct to Ingwer Callsen Bracker at the 53rd minute.
Augsburg capitalized on their superior numbers when Hahn sealed his brace three minutes later to make it 3-0 on the scoreboards.
Stuttgart were capable to score their consolation through Konstantin Rausch at the 62nd minute but, Augsburg’s Tobias Werner restored the lead when he added his name on the score sheets to mark the final 4-1 result, two minutes later.
Stuttgart slumped from 13th to 14th place with 19 points, only three points adrift of the drop zone, whilst Augsburg climb from 9th to 8th position with 31 points.
“The performance is absolutely out of question. I am very disappointed. We must apologize to the fans,” Stuttgart coach Thomas Schneider said.
Schalke staged a dominant performance and reaped three points in a one sided affair against Hannover.
Schalke defended their fourth place to remain in touching distance to third placed Dortmund. It was the first loss for Hannover under their new coach Tayfun Korkut.
The “Royal Blues” sealed the deal with two first-half-goals through Jefferson Farfan and youngster Max Meyer.
Hannover turned up at the second half but remained absolutely ineffective to overcome Schalke’s bulwark. Thus, Hannover stay on 10th position with 24 points.
