Aubameyang hat-trick sinks Augsburg, Schalke stay third
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| AFP |
Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted a hat-trick on Sunday as Borussia Dortmund ran riot in a 5-1 home win over bottom side Augsburg to stay second in the German Bundesliga. Dortmund trimmed the gap at the top to seven points behind run-away leaders Bayern Munich as Aubameyang took his tally to 13 goals in 10 league games to become the joint top-scorer alongside Bayern's Robert Lewandowski.
This was an emphatic victory for Dortmund, who tore the Augsburg defence to pieces as Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa set up three of the goals. Aubameyang claimed the third hat-trick in his two years at Dortmund.
The Gabonese international opened his account after 18 minutes by finishing off a superb move started by right-back Matthias Ginter on the flank, as a series of quick passes saw Ilkay Gundogan provide the striker with a simple tap in. Marco Reus doubled the lead on 21 minutes when he fired home a superbly worked cross from Kagawa and the fleet-footed winger claimed his second with his Japanese team-mate again providing the final pass.
It was 3-0 at the break, but Augsburg striker Raul Bobadilla pulled a goal back when he out-jumped Mats Hummels from a free-kick to head home on 49 minutes. It proved to be no more than a consolation as Aubameyang grabbed his second on 85 minutes, then took advantage of another good Kagawa pass to delay his shot before beating goalkeeper Roman Burki on 91 minutes.
Ten-man Schalke stay third despite their 3-1 defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach, who earned their fifth straight win under caretaker coach Andre Schubert which has taken them from bottom to seventh in the table. Lars Stindl's first-half penalty for Borussia was cancelled out by an own goal by Denmark defender Andreas Christensen before Brazil striker Raffael curled in a free kick on 70 minutes. Schalke had midfielder Johannes Geis sent off on 80 minutes for stamping Andre Hahn's knee before defender Julian Korb scored Gladbach's third on 84 minutes.