Saints returned to St Mary’s for the first time since the end of the last campaign, but it did not prove to be a happy homecoming for them.



A superb first-half double from Michael Gregoritsch set Augsburg on the way to victory, with Ja-Cheol Koo’s second-half header and a late strike from Raphael Framberger sealing the win.



Mauricio Pellegrino made six changes to the side that started the 3-0 friendly win over Saint-Étienne last Saturday, with Fraser Forster, Maya Yoshida, Jérémy Pied, Oriol Romeu and Charlie Austin the ones who retained starting spots.



Joining them in the line-up were Jan Bednarek, for his first game at St Mary’s, as well as Matt Targett, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, James Ward-Prowse, Shane Long and Nathan Redmond.



It was Long and Ward-Prowse who nearly combined for the opener after five minutes, as the former delivered a low cross that perfectly picked out his midfield teammate, but Augsburg keeper Marwin Hitz made an excellent save from his first-time shot.



Hitz produced an even more spectacular stop seconds later, as the ball fell to Long to fire in a fierce, angled strike, but the Augsburg stopper was able to tip the ball onto the post at full stretch.



While the early signs had pointed towards Saints dominance, it was the visitors who soon began to take the upper hand.



Forster’s goal came under threat on a good couple of occasions, with the keeper producing a good stop with his feet from Jonathan Schmid’s low strike in the 28th minute, before Alfred Finnbogason fired inches wide shortly after.



Augsburg’s pressure eventually told in the 35th minute, and there was nothing Forster could do about it, as Gregoritsch launched a 30-yard piledriver that rocketed past the outstretched Saints keeper and into the top corner.



Gregoritsch then doubled his team’s advantage four minutes later, as he met Schmid’s in-swinging cross from the left to plant a firm, low header past Forster.



Redmond came close to halving the deficit a minute before half-time, but his sweetly-struck shot from 25 yards hit the bar and went over, after beating Hitz.



Pellegrino, who was experiencing his first game at St Mary’s, made three changes at the interval, as Jack Stephens, Sam McQueen and Jordy Clasie came on for Yoshida, Redmond and Romeu.



Ward-Prowse tested Hitz shortly after the restart with a low shot from outside the area, but the visiting keeper was equal to the midfielder’s drive.



A further two changes would come in the 64th minute, as Long and Austin were withdrawn for Dušan Tadić and Manolo Gabbiadini.



Before they had much chance to make an impact, though, it was 3-0 to the visitors, as Koo rose highest to head home substitute Erik Thommy’s free-kick.



Sofiane Boufal and Ryan Bertrand were then introduced, in place of Ward-Prowse and Targett, but still it couldn’t affect the flow of the game.



Augsburg added a fourth with less than ten minutes remaining, as Framberger drove forward into the area and planted a low shot into the far bottom corner to seal the German side's victory.

Southampton 1 Fraser Forster (GK) 3 Maya Yoshida (C) replace Jack Stephens (46′) 7 Shane Long replace Dušan Tadić (64′) 10 Charlie Austin replace Manolo Gabbiadini (64′) 14 Oriol Romeu replace Jordy Clasie (46′) 16 James Ward-Prowse replace Sofiane Boufal (72′) 18 Matt Targett replace Ryan Bertrand (72′) 22 Nathan Redmond replace Sam McQueen (46′) 23 Pierre-Emile Højbjerg replace Steven Davis (80′) 24 Jan Bednarek 26 Jérémy Pied Substitutes 28 Stuart Taylor 4 Jordy Clasie 5 Florin Gardos 6 Jack Stephens 8 Steven Davis 11 Dušan Tadić 12 Sam McQueen 15 Sam Gallagher 19 Sofiane Boufal 20 Manolo Gabbiadini 21 Ryan Bertrand 30 Jake Flannigan FC Augsburg 35 Marwin Hitz (GK) 10 Daniel Baier (C) 11 Michael Gregoritsch goal goal replace Christoph Janker (72′) 17 Jonathan Schmid replace Erik Thommy (63′) 19 Ja-Cheol Koo goal replace Moritz Leitner (72′) 27 Alfred Finnbogason replace Marco Richter (80′) 30 Francisco sa Silva Caiuby 31 Philipp Max 32 Raphael Framberger goal 36 Martin Hinteregger replace Takashi Usami (72′) 38 Kevin Danso replace Gojko Kacar (63′) Substitutes 13 Fabian Giefer 3 Konstantinos Stafylidis 5 Moritz Leitner 14 Daniel Opare 16 Christoph Janker 23 Marco Richter 26 Erik Thommy 39 Takashi Usami 40 Gojko Kacar