Augsburg’s Sandro Wagner provides personnel updates, speaks on Kristijan Jakic’s Croatian ‘wonder-goal’ | OneFootball

Sandro Wagner’s FC Augsburg face a stern test in the Bundesliga this weekend. Wagner’s Bavarian Swabians must travel north to face red-hot undefeated FC St. Pauli at the Millerntor. Augsburg themselves have done well this season, upsetting Freiburg in their opening league fixture and pushing German giants Bayern Munich to a narrow 2:3 defeat in round two’s Saturday evening “Top-Spiel“.

Wagner’s team nevertheless return from the international break still carrying many injuries. Wingbacks Marius Wolf and Dimitrios Giannoulis remain out, as does central defensive starter Keven Schlotterbeck. Versatile attacker Robin Fellhauer is still recovering from the after-effects of a nasty concussion while Wagner’s surprise lead striker Mert Kömür remains troubled by the broken toe that saw him sent home from the Germany U21s.

Wagner admitted at his Thursday pre-match press conference that he likely wouldn’t be able to rely upon the services of talismanic attacker Alexis Claude-Maurice, who still hasn’t featured for the Fuggerstädter at all this season as he continues to rehab an ankle sprain. Wagner could still build a decent attack by lining up new signing Fabian Rieder and rejuvenated attacker Elias Saad in a double ten set up.

“We will attack,” Wagner emphasized at his Friday presser. “It’s going to be a tough, heated, and difficult game. I hope it will be loud.”

Wagner spoke about some players directly. Fellhauer – who filled in for both Wolf and Giannoulis as both a right and left wingback in the Bayern match – was labelled “a coach’s dream“. Saad has just returned from international duty with Tunisia and may find himself somewhat jet-lagged against his old club. Wagner noted that he had assured the Hamburg-native that he “can play the worst game of his life and we’ll still like him afterwards.“

Saad isn’t the only player returning from international duty. In point of fact, both Saad and Kristijan Jakic scored their respective first goals for country over the September break. Jakic netted a vital opener for the Croatian national team in a crucial World Cup qualifier against Montenegro. Like Eintracht Frankfurt’s Ritsu Doan, Jakic scored an “Arjen Robben Style” goal for the Vatreni.

Jakic – who works in central midfield for Wagner – also scored a goal and netted an assist for Augsburg in the Bayern match. For Croatia, the 28-year-old lined up as a right fullback. With Wolf out, a journalist naturally had to ask if Wagner had considered deploying Jakic as a right wingback against St. Pauli.

“I gave it a shot and asked him if he wanted to play on the right flank for us,” Wagner answered. “He said ‘no way’. He rejected my idea immediately. I became aware of the goal after 18,000 Croats wrote to ask if I had seen the goal. Thanks to the ‘automatic save feature’ on my phone, I have a ridiculous amount of Croatian friends in my contacts.

“I’m extremely happy for him [Jakic],” Wagner continued. “It’s been the case that together we’ve made it a personal objective that he plays an important role as a leader for both club and country. If he continues to push himself here, he can enjoy better standing with the national team. I’m really happy that this has happened after a few weeks. He’s a very important player for us.”

GGFN | Peter Weis