BERLIN — Bundesliga title hopefuls Borussia Dortmund suffered a blow in a 2-0 defeat at Augsburg on Saturday, surrendering without a fight as Daniel Caligiuri set up the first goal and scored the second in his 300th league game.
Despite Dortmund having close to 80% possession for much of the first half, it was Augsburg who scored when Felix Uduokhai connected with a Caligiuri free kick in the 40th minute to nod in from three metres with their first chance of the match.
Dortmund lacked the magic from their young stars that helped them cruise past Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 in their Bundesliga opener last week.
Dortmund's top striker Erling Haaland had to wait until the 90th minute for his first opportunity, while Giovanni Reyna and Jude Bellingham were largely anonymous and playmaker Jadon Sancho struggled to find space.
Augsburg remained disciplined after the break and struck again with the 32-year-old Caligiuri charging through, holding off defender Thomas Meunier and firing in to leave the visitors desperately scrambling to score for the remainder of the game.
Dortmund are down 2-0 to Augsburg pic.twitter.com/Uvf7oJHeu6
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 26, 2020
But not even the introduction of fit-again Marco Reus and Julian Brandt in the second half could turn things around for Dortmund, with defender Mats Hummels missing their best chance in the second half with a header.
Fellow Champions League club RB Leipzig also dropped points, settling for a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen after taking the lead through Emil Forsberg in the 14th minute.
A missile by Kerem Demirbay six minutes later earned a point for the hosts.
Gladbach are still waiting for their first win after drawing 1-1 at home to Union Berlin, while Mainz 05, who had to deal with a one-day players' strike in midweek, lost 4-1 to visiting VfB Stuttgart.
Champions Bayern Munich, who won their fourth title of the year on Wednesday with a Super Cup win over Sevilla, travel to Hoffenheim on Sunday.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)
