Dortmund Slumps to Another Loss at Augsburg as Leipzig Tops the Bundesliga

26 October 2024, Bavaria, Augsburg: Augsburg's Alexis Claude-Maurice (R) and Dortmund's Felix Nmecha battle for the ball during German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Borussia Dortmund at the WWK Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
26 October 2024, Bavaria, Augsburg: Augsburg's Alexis Claude-Maurice (R) and Dortmund's Felix Nmecha battle for the ball during German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Borussia Dortmund at the WWK Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
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Dortmund Slumps to Another Loss at Augsburg as Leipzig Tops the Bundesliga

26 October 2024, Bavaria, Augsburg: Augsburg's Alexis Claude-Maurice (R) and Dortmund's Felix Nmecha battle for the ball during German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Borussia Dortmund at the WWK Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
26 October 2024, Bavaria, Augsburg: Augsburg's Alexis Claude-Maurice (R) and Dortmund's Felix Nmecha battle for the ball during German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Borussia Dortmund at the WWK Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa

Borussia Dortmund's awful away from continued in a 2-1 loss to Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday that increases the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund's fourth loss in a row in away games in all competitions — including 5-2 at Real Madrid on Tuesday — left the team seven points off new Bundesliga leader Leipzig, The Associated Press reported.
Alexis Claude-Maurice made his first start since joining Augsburg in August and rewarded his new team with two goals from distance to turn the game around. Dortmund led with an early Donyell Malen goal.
The game ended with 18-year-old Dortmund defender Almugera Kabar sent off for two yellow cards on his Bundesliga debut.
Sahin, who took over after Edin Terzic left following Dortmund's Champions League final loss last season, has seven wins, one draw and four losses in 12 games.
Leipzig on top Leipzig looks like two different teams, depending on which competition its playing in.
In the Champions League, it has lost all three of its games. In the Bundesliga, Marco Rose's team leads the standings — at least until Bayern Munich plays Sunday — and is unbeaten in its eight games.
Leipzig briefly looked like bringing its Champions League form to the Bundesliga before a second-half comeback to beat Freiburg 3-1.
Poor marking allowed Ritsu Doan to head Freiburg in front in the 15th — the first goal Leipzig conceded in the Bundesliga since Aug. 31. Goals from defenders Willi Orban and Lutsharel Geertruida got Leipzig back into the game before Loïs Openda scored from a tight angle to secure the win.
With attacking midfielder Xavi Simons set to be out for weeks with an ankle ligament injury sustained in Leipzig’s 1-0 loss to Liverpool on Wednesday, teammates Castello Lukeba and Amadou Haidara raised his shirt in tribute.
Stuttgart wins again El Bilal Touré scored a vital goal in Stuttgart's 1-0 win over Juventus on Tuesday in the Champions League, and the Mali forward did it again on Saturday with a goal and assist to beat Holstein Kiel 2-1.
Touré surged for most of the length of the field on a counterattack to set up Deniz Undav for Stuttgart's first goal and scored the second with an audacious long-range shot.
That gave Stuttgart a much-needed first Bundesliga win in over a month, but only after surviving the last half-hour with 10 men after Jeff Chabot earned two yellow cards in the space of three minutes.
Also, Wolfsburg drew at St. Pauli 0-0.
Champion Bayer Leverkusen played Werder Bremen later Saturday.



Ski Great Marcel Hirscher’s Comeback Season Ended by Serious Knee Injury

Marcel Hirscher of Netherlands competes in the first run of the men's slalom race during the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Hochgurgl, Austria on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Johann Groder/ various sources / AFP)
Marcel Hirscher of Netherlands competes in the first run of the men's slalom race during the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Hochgurgl, Austria on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Johann Groder/ various sources / AFP)
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Ski Great Marcel Hirscher’s Comeback Season Ended by Serious Knee Injury

Marcel Hirscher of Netherlands competes in the first run of the men's slalom race during the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Hochgurgl, Austria on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Johann Groder/ various sources / AFP)
Marcel Hirscher of Netherlands competes in the first run of the men's slalom race during the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Hochgurgl, Austria on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Johann Groder/ various sources / AFP)

Ski great Marcel Hirscher’s comeback season after five years away from the sport is over when it had barely begun.

The Austrian star tore the ACL in his left knee “during a harmless slip” while training in giant slalom, he posted on his official website on Tuesday.

“As is unfortunately the case with skiing: part of the game. Maybe I’m finally done with my journey,” said the 35-year-old Hirscher, who had surgery on Monday evening.

Hirscher returned to race this season for the first time since winning a record eighth straight overall World Cup title in March 2019. In three races his best result was 23rd in the season-opening giant slalom at Sölden, Austria.

“The second run was maybe one of the most emotional moments in my career,” Hirscher said after racing on Oct. 27.

The two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion is the latest ski superstar sidelined by injury.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who succeeded Hirscher as the men’s overall champion in 2020, is missing the whole season with ongoing issues in his recovery from a hard crash in January at the finish of a downhill in Wengen, Switzerland.

Mikaela Shiffrin, the five-time women’s overall champion, was injured crashing on Saturday when in sight of her record-extending 100th World Cup win in a giant slalom at Killington, Vermont.

Hirscher is not the only ski great making a comeback after stopping five years ago.

Lindsey Vonn, at age 40, is preparing to return in the weeks ahead in the speed races of downhill and super-G she used to dominate.