Manuel Baum walked into the away dressing room in Berlin knowing this was the last Bundesliga game of the season for FC Augsburg: at 15.30 on the 34. Spieltag Augsburg kicked off against 1. FC Union Berlin with Baum saying plainly, "Wir wollen das letzte Saisonspiel unbedingt gewinnen."
The match carried weight in the stadium and on the road — more than 2,500 FC Augsburg fans had made the trip to Berlin, many following the active fan scene’s matchday motto, "Alle im Trikot." Union Berlin wore their red and white home kits while FC Augsburg took the field in their black Römertrikots. Cornelius Küpper commentated the single-match broadcast on Sky, and the game also featured in the conference on DAZN.
Baum made two changes to his starting lineup before kick-off: Yannik Keitel replaced the suspended Kristijan Jakić, and Robin Fellhauer returned to the eleven for Dimitris Giannoulis. FC Augsburg’s starting lineup read Dahmen, Matsima, Gouweleeuw, Keitel, Zesiger, Fellhauer, Wolf, Kade, Rieder, Kömür and Gregoritsch — 11 starting players set to close out the season. The bench included eight players: Labrović, Klein, Pedersen, Massengo, Ribeiro, Schlotterbeck, Ogundu and Banks.
The match was overseen by referee Patrick Ittrich, with Sascha Thielert and Thomas Gorniak as his assistant referees and Robert Schröder acting as fourth official. Video assistants Patrick Hanslbauer and Arno Blos worked in the VAR centre. Ittrich is scheduled to end his career this summer, a fact that gave the officiating team a particular note of finality on the day.
Absences shaped Baum’s selection. Arthur Chaves missed the match with a knee bruise, Elvis Rexhbecaj was ruled out because of an infection and Alexis Claude-Maurice was unavailable with ankle problems. Those absences left Baum to reshuffle and to offer players like Keitel a chance he summed up succinctly with another touchstone line, "Fällt überhaupt nicht schwer."
The game mattered beyond tactics: it was part of Baum’s preparation for an end-of-season farewell, and for fans it was the last Bundesliga fixture to judge the squad before the summer. After the final whistle, supporters would be invited to vote online for the Man of the Match, a small but deliberate way to close the campaign with fan input.
The facts on the day were plain and unembellished — a late afternoon kick-off in Berlin, a travelling contingent of more than 2,500 Augsburg fans, two changes to the starting eleven, and a string of absences that tested depth. What comes next is concrete: Baum and his players leave the Bundesliga schedule behind and head into the off-season, while supporters and club officials will use the break to assess the squad; but for the moment the season closes in the red-and-white of Union and the black Römertrikots of Augsburg under referee Patrick Ittrich’s last summer of duty.
