Seventh heaven for Augsburg

Augsburg made it seven games unbeaten with a 3-1 win over 10-man Werder Bremen on Saturday.

Augsburg made it seven games unbeaten with a 3-1 win over 10-man Werder Bremen on Saturday to boost their chances of European qualification. An own goal from Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker gave Bremen an early lead, but the rest of the game belonged to the hosts, who levelled within eight minutes through Tobias Werner. Bremen were reduced to 10 men just before half-time when Santiago Garcia picked up his second yellow card and Augsburg needed just four minutes of the second half to go ahead, with Halil Altintop scoring. Andre Hahn then stole in to make it three and take Augsburg to within two points of sixth-placed Wolfsburg. Bremen made an ideal start to the game, taking the lead in the third minute when Callsen-Bracker turned a corner into his own goal. Goalkeeper Alexander Manninger, who was making only his seventh appearance of the season, was helpless to prevent his side going behind. Augsburg did not let the misfortune unsettle them, though, and they hit back through a Werner free-kick in the 11th minute. A deflection off Theodor Gebre Selassie helped the ball on its way past Raphael Wolf in the Bremen goal. Bremen struggled to get their game going and Garcia picked up a yellow card for a professional foul as he prevented one Augsburg attack. The Argentinian defender was riding his luck throughout the first half before the long overdue second booking arrived just before half-time for a dangerous tackle on Matthias Ostrzolek. Garcia needed restraining several times by his team-mate as he first confronted the referee and then raged at an assistant in protest. As if that was not enough, he returned to the referee to continue his tirade, but it did not alter the fact Bremen were left with a mountain to climb in the second 45 minutes. Augsburg capitalised early in the second half, with Altintop sending in a sweet left-foot volley from a searching cross to put them in front. A comical misunderstanding between Bremen goalkeeper Raphael Wolf and defender Lukas Schmitz then let Hahn in to make it three, stealing the ball from between the two Bremen players before slotting it in to an unguarded net to seal Augsburg's victory.