Augsburg, Feb 28: Rodrigo Ribeiro scored for the second game in a row and Alexis Claude-Maurice added a second with the last kick of the game as Augsburg beat Cologne 2-0 in the Bundesliga.
Six days after he scored in a 3-2 win over Wolfsburg, Ribeiro’s cute backheel from a cutback by U.S. defender Noahkai Banks broke the deadlock in the 55th minute.
Claude-Maurice made sure of the win deep in stoppage time when, with all of the Cologne players in the opposition box for a last-gasp corner, he charged forward and rolled the ball into the empty net.
Augsburg’s fifth win in six games left it in ninth place, tied on points with Eintracht Frankfurt, the team above it.
Cologne was missing four players with muscle injuries, a rash of absences that coach Lukas Kwasniok said was the worst he had ever faced.
The visitor was the more physical of the two sides in a hard-fought first half and was unfortunate not to go in a goal up at the break after Eric Martel’s header came back off the crossbar.
But Augsburg – wearing a one-off shirt designed to highlight the city’s history – took its chances in the second half as it roared to a club-record-equalling eight consecutive matches unbeaten at home in the Bundesliga.
Cologne has won only one of its last six league games and remained in 12th place. (AP)
