For six glorious minutes, Deutsche Bank Park believed it was watching the start of something. Then, over the following eighty-three, FC Augsburg dismantled that illusion piece by piece, leaving Eintracht Frankfurt beaten, bruised and rooted to the bottom half of the table after a 4-1 rout that felt every bit as emphatic as the scoreline suggests.

This was a match of two distinct halves, split cleanly down the interval like a snapped ruler. Frankfurt led at the break, having threatened to make an early breakthrough count. What followed after the restart was less a collapse than a controlled demolition, Augsburg finding a rhythm, a swagger and a killer instinct that their hosts simply could not live with.

By the final whistle Augsburg sat clear at the top of the Bundesliga on maximum points, two wins from two, seven goals scored and only one conceded. Frankfurt, meanwhile, were left to stew in thirteenth on a solitary point, their season already carrying the anxious hum of a side wondering where the answers will come from.

A false dawn

It began so promisingly for the home side. Inside six minutes Younes Ebnoutalib swung in a cross from the flank, and Jonathan Burkardt rose in the centre of the box to plant a header into the bottom right corner. The stadium roared, the striker wheeled away, and Frankfurt had the perfect start against the early league leaders.

For a while the lead looked as though it might hold. Frankfurt carried their advantage into half-time with the sort of nervous satisfaction that comes from leading a superior opponent, sensing an upset within reach. Burkardt's early strike had given them a platform, and all they needed to do was protect it.

But leads are fragile things, and Frankfurt's evaporated the instant the second half began. Whatever composure they had carried into the tunnel deserted them the moment they emerged, and the game turned on its axis with a speed that left the home crowd stunned into silence.

The interval unravelling

The equaliser arrived in the cruellest fashion. Just as the second half kicked off, Elias Baum turned the ball into his own net, and in a single unfortunate touch Frankfurt's hard-won advantage was gone. There was no time to recover, no moment to steady the nerves.

Sixty seconds later it got worse. In the 47th minute Robin Fellhauer stabbed home a right-footed finish from the right side of the six-yard box, steering it into the centre of the goal to complete a devastating one-two punch inside the opening two minutes of the half. Frankfurt had gone from leading to trailing before they had properly settled back into their shape.

It was a passage of play that will haunt the hosts. Two goals in the space of a minute, one gifted, one seized, and the entire complexion of the afternoon flipped. Augsburg, sniffing blood, no longer looked like a team clinging to their perfect start; they looked like a side determined to extend it in the most brutal manner possible.

Augsburg turn the screw

With Frankfurt chasing shadows, Augsburg simply went for the throat. In the 65th minute Han-Noah Massengo supplied the pass and Alexis Claude-Maurice took over, cutting in from the left side of the box before curling a right-footed finish into the bottom right corner. Three goals, all the momentum, and a home side visibly wilting.

From there the outcome was never in doubt, only the margin. Augsburg controlled the tempo, comfortable in possession and threatening every time they moved forward. Frankfurt's early belief had long since curdled into resignation, the crowd shifting from roars to grumbles to a low, defeated murmur.

The exclamation mark came a minute from time. Fabian Rieder stepped up to a free-kick and bent a left-footed strike into the top right corner, a finish of real quality to cap a display of ruthless efficiency. Four unanswered goals, a clean second-half sweep, and a statement of intent from the league's early pacesetters.

Table takes shape

Two matches into the campaign, Augsburg's numbers make for startling reading. Six points from six, seven goals scored and just one conceded, and a place at the very top of the Bundesliga that few would have predicted. They have not merely won their opening fixtures; they have won them with authority, and this second-half masterclass suggests their fast start is built on something more than fortune.

For Frankfurt the picture is altogether gloomier. A single point from their opening two games, thirteenth in the table, and a goal difference already sitting at minus three after shipping seven in two outings. The manner of this defeat, throwing away a lead and then falling apart, will sting far more than the result itself.

There is a long season ahead, and one afternoon rarely defines a campaign in either direction. Yet the contrast on this Sunday could not have been starker. Augsburg leave Deutsche Bank Park as swaggering leaders; Frankfurt are left to pick over a performance that fell apart the moment it mattered most, searching for the resilience that vanished at half-time.