FC Augsburg is marching upwards. In a heated game at FC Schalke, coach Maassen's team celebrated their third win in a row. Goalkeeper Gikiewicz is once again the center of attention.
Gelsenkirchen/Augsburg (dpa/lby) - Augsburg goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz was also in the middle of the poisonous aftermath at FC Schalke 04. Beer mugs flew, even lighters and one or the other caustic word anyway. The aftermath of 97 intense Bundesliga minutes between Schalke and FC Augsburg was tough - also because of Gikiewicz.
"Rafa is not always completely innocent," said Augsburg's André Hahn, who secured the 3-2 win on Sunday with a goal in the 77th minute: "Sometimes you have to hold him back, but of course we protect ours Goalkeeper."
That's what the FCA players did when Schalke's goalscorer Simon Terodde ran furiously at Gikiewicz after the final whistle, even though Gikiewicz appeared to only be pulling his towel and bottle out of the goal.
"I'm a very emotional player," explained Terodde afterwards. Losing after being 2-0 down and then against ten men "hurts," he said, and didn't want to comment on the battle of words. "What happens on the pitch stays on the pitch."
According to his coach Enrico Maassen, Gikiewicz was thrown at with a lighter after the final whistle. "He said he was hit by a lighter, he fought it off and then made these gestures, but I'll definitely look at it again because I didn't notice it myself," said Maassen after the third threesome his team one after the other. Augsburg have never had twelve points after eight games.
FCA manager Stefan Reuter tried to find a balance. Terodde's attack was "absurd," and Gikiewicz, who is known to be emotional, was provoked throughout the game "with lighters thrown and such." "The fact that at some point the hat cord bursts is just the way it is," said the 1990 world champion: "The referee and the home club are called upon to act."
But Gikiewicz, who clashed with the Werder fans after the final whistle of the last away game in Bremen, also wants to speak to Reuter's conscience: "We have to stay focused and after the game it's time to wipe your mouth and be happy with our own fans ."
Reuter "didn't want to make it bigger than it is" that he himself got several beer mugs when walking from the stands to the field. I didn't get anything brutal." But beer showers would, according to the manager with a laugh, "make the winners in Bavaria".
And there is a great atmosphere in Augsburg. The nervousness after the mixed start has long since disappeared. "We've moved closer together again," said defender Maximilian Bauer, describing the development of the team. "We're on the right track," Hahn agreed. "We play simply and straight forward with a lot of force."
For Ermedin Demirovic, who even gave Augsburg a 2-0 lead, the team even acts "almost like a family on the pitch." And that's where you stick together.
