German Bundesliga

Gregerl scores twice, Ilzer’s Hoffenheim confident

The savior pose suits him well – Michael Gregoritsch led FC Augsburg to victory with a brace...(Bild: APA-Images / dpa / Harry Langer)

Michael Gregoritsch has scored his first goals since returning to Germany's Bundesliga! Austria's World Cup qualifying hero scored twice on Saturday to give FC Augsburg a 2-1 home win over St. Pauli. Christian Ilzer's TSG Hoffenheim won 3-1 at home against Union Berlin, securing their fifth consecutive victory and closing the gap on second-placed Dortmund, at least for the time being. 

Werder Bremen drew 1-1 with Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Weserstadion, while Bayer Leverkusen won 3-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt. RB Leipzig lost 2-1 at home to FSV Mainz.

Gregoritsch was on hand to head home from a corner in the 41st minute against St. Pauli, equalizing Danel Sinani's 32nd-minute penalty. The Styrian, who was substituted in the 84th minute, scored the winning goal in the 59th minute with a well-placed low shot into the far corner. Augsburg moved up to eleventh place.

Hoffenheim confident against Union
In Sinsheim, Andrej Kramaric made it 1-0 in the 42nd minute from a penalty caused by Leopold Querfeld and added another three minutes later with a header. The game was decided shortly after the restart by an own goal from Diogo Leite (47'). The Berliners, for whom Querfeld played the whole game, only managed to make the result look better thanks to Rani Khedira (68'). Hoffenheim (with Alexander Prass from 83') have now won 11 of their last 14 league games.

Things are not going so well for Leipzig – the fourth-placed team suffered a surprise defeat at home to Mainz after goals from Conrad Harder (40th minute), Nadiem Amiri (45+6/penalty) and Silas Katompa Mvumpa (49th minute), managing only one win from their last four league matches. Xaver Schlager and Nicolas Seiwald played the full game for the Saxons, while Christoph Baumgartner was suspended after picking up a yellow card. On the other side, Stefan Posch played the entire game, with Phillipp Mwene coming on in the 82nd minute.

Bremen has been waiting for a win for months
Their ÖFB colleagues Marco Friedl, Romano Schmid – both of whom played the full 90 minutes – and Marco Grüll (from the 64th minute) secured a 1-1 home draw against Gladbach, for whom Kevin Stöger came on in the 57th minute, thanks to Keke Topp (94th minute). Bremen's record from the last ten rounds shows four draws and six defeats.