Augsburg claim late victory over Bremen in Bundesliga

Augsburg came from behind twice to snatch a late 3-2 win on home soil against Bremen, while Frankfurt edged Darmstadt 2-0 at the close of matchday 19 in the German Bundesliga football season.

Augsburg secured their second straight victory after inflicting the fifth loss in a row on Werder Bremen as Raul Bobadilla slotted home the winner in the dying seconds of the game on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The hosts grabbed the better start going into the encounter as Manuel Baum's men came close to scoring twice in the opening period.

The game came to life with 26 minutes played when Bremen's Theodor Gebre Selassie poked home a rebound to open the scoring following a free kick from Zlatko Junuzovic.

It was a short-lived moment of joy for the Green-Whites. Augsburg responded two minutes later through Jonathan Schmid, who made use of Bobadilla's back-heel through ball to beat onrushing Bremen goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald for the equaliser.

Bremen controlled the proceedings for the rest of the first half, but Alexander Nouri's men failed to work out clear-cut opportunities.

After the restart, Bremen took the lead again as Max Kruse converted a foul penalty to make it 2-1 on the scoreboards 20 minutes into the second half.

The hosts remained unfazed and restored parity again after Paul Verhaegh's cross into the box found Ja-Cheol Koo, who tapped home from very close range in the 79th minute.

Augsburg weren't done with the scoring as Raul Bobadilla had an ace in the hole in injury time. The striker controlled the ball between two defenders to fire home the 3-2 winner.

With the result, Augsburg jumped to 10th place while Werder Bremen stay in 15th place in the standings.

Elsewhere, Eintracht Frankfurt cruised past relegation-threatened Darmstadt 2-0 as Makoto Hasebe and Ante Rebic provided the goals to lift the Eagles to third place on the table.

Meanwhile, Darmstadt stay at the bottom after suffering their 14th loss of the season.

--IANS

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