The last thing the long-suffering Borussia Mönchengladbach fans could use at the end of a miserable season was a Cologne trauma. The two cities are 50 kilometers apart. The relationship between the fan camps is difficult. Very difficult. Defeats against the Rhenish rivals hurt twice here and there, but three times double pain within 14 months is now bad for the Gladbachers. That much is certain after their 1: 3 (0: 3) defeat on Saturday evening against 1. FC Köln. Three derby defeats in a row were 30 years ago. When the Gladbachers stepped in front of their fan stands after the final whistle, they were whistled at loudly. The Cologne fans, on the other hand, sang their players for minutes with the fervor of an opera aria. They got, so to speak, countless curtains.
The two previous Rhine derbies against Cologne had already represented significant low points for Gladbach. Negative Milestones. On February 6, 2021, a 1-2 home defeat coached by the then coach Marco Rose marked the starting point of a 14-month descent including the Champions League exit, Rose’s farewell, loss of the European Cup, Max Eberl’s farewell and, above all, that , a kind of loss of identity.
Early setback for Gladbach Borussia: Anthony Modeste (in red) uses the space in the Gladbach defense to make it 1-0 for Cologne.
(Photo: Norbert Jansen/Jan Huebner: Jan Huebner)
The subsequent 1: 4 defeat in Cologne on November 27, 2021 was the prelude to a further accelerated descent within the months-long overriding downward movement. Then they lost at home against Freiburg 0:6 and two more games in a row to a creepy four-parter with 4:17 goals, which pushed the Borussia in the table towards the basement.
Most recently, the Gladbachers seemed well recovered from the downpour of this season – but there is rarely any sign of teamwork.
Most recently, after ten points from four games, one had actually thought that Gladbach had recovered a little from weeks of weakness, but the embarrassment against Cologne puts Gladbach’s recovery in doubt.
The fact that Borussia Park was sold out on Saturday for the first time since March 7, 2020 (1: 2 against Borussia Dortmund) (54,042 spectators) was unfortunate from Gladbach’s point of view. You would actually want to celebrate such an emotional occasion differently. But the first half in particular was painful for the hosts.
The 0: 3 after 45 minutes is a derby novelty
Their recognizable aggressiveness with courageous advances was brilliantly exploited by the Cologne team with three cold-blooded hits within half an hour. Anthony Modeste (5th), Florian Kainz (20th) and Dejan Ljubicic (34th) created a 0:3 half-time score that had never been seen before in the history of the derby at Borussia Park. Gladbach’s fans froze. Cologne’s fans sang “Europapokaaal!” and lit Bengal beacons.
Ten and a half months after an unnerved 1. FC Köln managed to stay up in the Bundesliga in the relegation against Holstein Kiel at the end of May 2021, the largely identical team under new coach Steffen Baumgart is now playing like newborn in the orbit of qualifying places for the European Cup competitions called Conference League (6th place), Europa League (5th place) and Champions League (from 4th place). They confirmed their maturity in Mönchengladbach in the second half by not letting the hosts get back into the game. In the 85th minute, Breel Embolo only managed to score to make it 1:3. It didn’t feel like a “consolation goal”.
Baumgart is noticeably dissatisfied with the performance of the second half. This is nitpicking at a high level.
“The second half wasn’t as consistent, I didn’t like it that much,” said Cologne coach Baumgart. But: “The first half was very good.” Baumgart was also enthusiastically celebrated by the fans. He gave away his famous flat cap, perhaps as a consolation, but to a Gladbach fan behind the dugout.
Why so grumpy, Herr Baumgart? The Cologne coach looks at the interaction between the team and the fans from a safe distance.
(Photo: Moritz Müller/Imago)
Cologne goalscorer Kainz said after the game: “I’m happy for our fans that they can experience a season like this with us because they didn’t always have it easy in the previous years.” The fans’ hopes are growing week by week. “We continue to attack,” said Kainz, “we have set ourselves a new goal.” This new goal is: European Cup.
The Gladbachers are far from that. “We want to spark something again with a win,” said Gladbach’s sporting director Roland Virkus before the game. But it looks as if nothing can be sparked at Borussia this season. “We didn’t show much resistance, it wasn’t Gladbach-like,” midfielder Jonas Hofmann confessed to Sky. One longs for the summer break and a restructuring of the worn-out squad. Next season they want to do more to counter the Cologne team, because Gladbach’s pride has suffered. Shortly before the end, the Cologne fans mocked “Goodbye!”, but Gladbach will not be relegated again.